Power Corrupts
by GemmGemm
Summary: When Alistair finds himself in trouble there's only one person he trusts to help him. But first he has to find her and hope they can put their past behind them to face a new dangerous mission. Set between Dragon Age Awakenings and Dragon Age II. Rated M for later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

_A:N. Hi. This is my first chapter story, I hope you like it. I've written one-shots before and decided to have a go at something a little more substantial. This first chapter is kind of short and is more of an introduction that anything else. Any feedback is much appreciated, positive or negative, I'm pretty thick skinned so have at it! I haven't played Dragon Age Inquisition yet so bear that in mind. Thank you for reading!_

 _All characters and places belong to Bioware._

Alistair had been sat in the same spot for hours. The camp he was watching was as quiet and deserted as it had been when he'd first found it with the last embers of a dying camp fire just going out. The occupant was coming back he'd decided, they'd left a tent, bedroll and cooking supplies lying on the ground, they had to be coming back. He'd settled in to wait, half hidden by the brush and with a tree to his back. Please, he silently asked The Maker, please be coming back.

As the hours ticked by he'd started to doubt himself. It had taking him weeks of quiet questioning and tracking to get this far, if his quarry had indeed decided to abandon the camp then he was wasting precious hours that could have been better spent picking up the trail while it was still warm. Instead he'd sat here, getting stiff and sore while the sun moved across the sky, twilight was falling fast. It wouldn't be long before he wouldn't be able to see the camp at all in the darkness.

One more hour, he promised himself, I'll just wait one more hour.

In the tree, just a few feet above Alistair's head, Zevran sat, legs dangling over a wide branch. He had to admit, discovering the person following him so diligently was his old friend Alistair was a bit of a surprise. Ever watchful for more of The Crows assassins Zevran was careful about covering his tracks, he rarely stayed in the same place for more than a few days and avoided the large market places and cities as much as possible. He'd finally heard his peruser just seconds before they appeared in the clearing and just managed to grab his sword and dagger before diving for the tree line. Quietly circling behind the mysterious stranger curiosity got the better of him and rather than quickly putting an end to them he'd climbed a tree to get a better look. After all, The Crows trained their assassins well, and this man had made enough noise to alert him. Either The Crows were getting sloppy or this person wasn't who he thought they were.

Realising it was Alistair had given him pause, although lots of people wanted this man dead, he wasn't one of them. There was a time, a few months ago, when he could quite cheerfully have cut Alistair's throat, especially if the order had come from a certain friend of his, and he certainly couldn't have blamed her if she'd given that order. Luckily for Alistair his initial anger had passed. That's not to say he wouldn't kill him, but he was willing to hear him out, for now at least.

As Zevran watched Alistair's head started to droop, Zevran smiled to himself as he saw Alistair fight to keep himself awake. Ah Alistair my old friend, you always could sleep anywhere, he thought to himself. When Alistair's chin finally dropped to his chest and didn't lift again Zevran silently and gracefully let himself drop from the tree. Holding his exceptionally sharp dagger in front of him he approached the sleeping man.

It wasn't until Alistair felt the cold steel tip of a dagger under his chin that he awoke. Barely daring to move he slowly raised his eyes to look into Zevran's face. It wasn't bandits at least, getting caught sleeping by bandits would have just been embarrassing. If she'd been here he'd never have heard the end of it.

"Well, that's a nice welcome," he said, raising an eyebrow, "you haven't killed me yet so I'll take that as a good sign. I've been looking for you."

Zevran took in the slightly sallow look, the narrower cheeks, the longer hair and days of stubble growing on the young man's face and frowned. Even in the midst of a blight Alistair had somehow always managed to look after his hair and beard. Although trying to win the heart of a certain female Grey Warden may have helped motivate him, Zevran thought ruefully. Slowly retracting the blade a little he said,

" My good friend Alistair! Why in the world would you be looking for little old me? Finally decided to get that tattoo after all hmm?"

Alistairs face took on a seriousness not often seen,

"You know why Zevran. I have to see her."


	2. Chapter 2

_AN: Hi again. Here's chapter two! Hope you enjoy it. Reviews, criticism and advice all welcome!_

"You know why Zevran. I have to see her."

Zevran was hardly surprised, why else would he be here? Alistair might want to see her, but would she want to see him? Considering how they'd parted ways it seemed highly doubtful.

"And who would this be?" Alistair practically growled at him, Zevran let out a sigh, it was a poor joke anyway,

"You think I know where she is? I would have thought you'd be privy to that information" Zevran said, "You are, after all, The Grey Warden here, not me."

"EX warden remember?" Alistair scowled, "Disgraced ex-warden I might add." A knowing look came into his eyes, Zevran was playing dumb. Zevran was many things, dumb was not one of them. You didn't get to be one of the best assassins in Antiva by being stupid. Besides, Alistair knew full well how much he cared for her, she was possibly one of the only friends Zevran had ever had, he knew exactly where she was, he took a gamble, "You think they'd let me get within a mile of Vigils Keep?"

"If you think they're more accepting of ex-crows then you are sadly mistaken my friend," Zevran huffed, he was impressed despite himself. He had no idea Alistair would know about Vigils keep, the fact that The Warden was there was not common knowledge, especially after the events at Amaranthine. There were, unfortunately, a great deal less people to spread rumours,

"Why would you think I can get you to her?"

Alistair gave a bitter half grin, "Because I know you Zevran, and I know her. If you two haven't figured out a way to get messages to each other by now then I'm the Queen of Antiva," Alistair dropped his gaze, refusing to meet Zevrans eyes, "Please Zevran. You and I may not have always seen eye to eye, but you know I wouldn't be here if I didn't really need your help."

Alistair continued to avert his eyes but heard Zevran slide his dagger back into it's holder and released a breath he hadn't realised he was holding. Truth be told he had half expected Zevran to attack him on sight but he's had no choice, Zevran was his best, and probably only chance to get into Vigils Keep. This at least was a step in the right direction.

"Come," Zevran said, leading Alistair into the camp site. He silently nodded to the spot opposite his own place next to the burned out fire in invitation and went to work on getting the fire started again and preparing some supper. Once it was burning away merrily he placed a stew pot of rabbit and vegetables over the flames.

Alistair had been silent the entire time, staring into space and clearly lost in his own thoughts. It was a far cry from the laughing and joking young man he'd got to know while fighting the blight. Alistair had been slow to trust him, true. Zevran couldn't really blame him for that, the elf had tried to kill him after all. But the silent, thoughtfulness was new. It made Zevran uneasy.

Alistair took the offered bowl of stew when it was finally ready, nodding in thanks. Zevran had expected him to merely pick at the food but he was wrong, the bowl was empty in seconds. He'd forgotten how much The Grey Wardens ate and by the looks of things it had been a while since Alistair had had a good meal.

Just as Alistair was reaching for a second bowl of stew he heard Zevran clear his throat,

"I was there you know, when she faced the archdemon," Alistair stilled with his hand halfway to the pot, Zevrans shrewd eyes caught the pause, ah, he thought, now we're getting somewhere,

"Yes," Zevran continued., "A glorious battle, mages, knights, dwarfs and elves. Endless darkspawn and a huge dragon. The stuff of legend." Zevran paused, unsure of how far he should push the subject, "You should have been there."

"Enough Zevran," Alistair snapped.

Zevran took in the clenched fists, the set jaw and agreed. Yes, that was enough, for now. He would hear the full story but perhaps another day. Zevran had to admit, he was intrigued. What could have happened to make Alistair come back? Getting involved with whatever was going on here was probably not the best idea. He could think of a thousand reasons why he should just walk away from this. But Zevran was never very good at walking away from things. He let out a sigh. Travelling around alone had lost it's charm anyway.

"There is a small settlement a few hours walk to the east, if we can acquire some horses there then we can make it Vigils Keep in two days,"

Alistair finally looked him in the eyes for the first time since they had sat down,

"You'll help me then?" Hope blossomed in his chest,

"Ah, Alistair. There just so happens to be a lovely young serving girl that works in the kitchens of Vigils Keep. A pretty little elf that has been known to pass certain pieces for information between The Warden and I. It as been far too long since I last saw her, young thing probably misses me." Alistair rolled his eyes, Zevran never could take anything seriously.

"I can take you to her, whether she will agree to see YOU is another matter entirely. We shall see hm?"

"She will." He sounded a lot more confident than he felt, even to his own ears, "She has to."

Zevran just nodded at him and stood up, night had truly fallen by then, "Well then we will need an early start yes? I'm going to get some sleep."

Alistair nodded back and reached into is own pack, removing his bedroll. Zevran watched him out of the corner of his eye as Alistair removed his travelling cloak and started to take off his armour, gone was the shining Viridium that he once wore, armour that Alistair had spent many an hour polishing in front of a different camp fire, replaced by cheap boiled leather and plate. Zevran was relieved to see he still carried Calins blade and Duncans shield however. In the flickering light of the campfire Zevran noticed the new scars spanning across Alistairs left shoulder and towards the center of his back, they certainly weren't there last time.

Zevran stopped in the entrance of his tent, "Alistair?"

Alistair paused with his back to him, just about to pull a tunic over his head to sleep in and waited,

"This is important yes?"

"It is." Alistair said quietly,

Zevran knew he wouldn't be getting any more information out of him tonight and entered his tent.

Alistair lay awake for a long time, listening to the quiet noises of the forest, looking up at the night sky. The fire had burned out, the only light in the clearing now came from the moon and stars. He was excited and terrified at the same time. He hadn't exactly left on good terms, to put it lightly, would she even listen to what he had to say? All Alistair could do at this point was hope. He had no chance on his own, he knew that. If she refused her help...no it wouldn't come to that. Despite what had happened and what they had once meant to each other she wouldn't and couldn't ignore innocents that needed help. It simply wasn't her way. He had to admit that a small, selfish part of him that had nothing to do with his current quest was overjoyed at having an excuse to see her again. He had missed her desperately and often wondered, late at night with nothing but a flask of ale for company, if she thought of him as often as he thought of her. On nights like that he would take his mothers old amulet out of his pack and thumb it lightly, reminiscing. Who'd have thought that in the midst of a blight he'd have times that were some of the best of his life?


	3. Chapter 3

Elissa Cousland leant back again her heavy armour propping her up. It wasn't the comfiest thing to lean on, true but after wearing it for three days straight it was a relief to stretch her limbs and allow the fresh air to her skin. Three days of clearing darkspawn stragglers out of nearby caves and she was enjoying an evening sat around the camp fire. They could probably have made it back to the keep if she was honest, but that meant dealing with the local nobles, the complaints and overseeing the repairs that needed to be done to the castle. Besides, everywhere she looked right now she saw accusing glances. Most of these were probably just her imagination to be fair, constructed by the guilt she felt for having left the city of Amaranthine to save Vigils Keep.

Her logic seemed sound at the time, without The Keep the city itself would have no protection anyway and it would probably mean the end of the Grey Wardens in Fereldan. It had to be saved. Right? Right? She scowled at herself, this was an inner argument she'd had many times now. It never did her any good. She focused instead on the people sharing her camp. Focus on the ones you saved Elissa, she told herself, would they be here if you hadn't returned? This was something she couldn't argue with herself about. Looking at her team made the guilt ease, it was hard to think she might have made the wrong choice when she looked at them.

With a thump Oghren landed on the ground next to her.

"You're thinking again, it's not good for you. Here," he said, pushing a tankard of his home-brewed ale into her hands, "this'll take care of it."

"Oghren my love, what would I do without you?" she teased, grateful for the ale. It had taken some getting used to but she could finally drink the stuff, not as much as Oghren of course, but at least she didn't pass out from half a mug now.

"Ah, Commander you'd be lost! A woman in mourning is a terrible thing," he said, clutching dramatically at his chest and nudging her with his shoulder, slopping ale over his beard.

"Hey, lovebirds?" Anders yelled over the fire at them, "we're playing a few hands of wicked grace, care to join us and share that ale?"

It had taken everyone awhile to get used to Elissa and Oghrens particular form of 'banter'. The outrageous flirting threw everyone off when they first met them, which was one the reasons they enjoyed it so much. By now the entire team knew it was just their way with each other and it was all just in fun. Elissa had helped reunite Oghren with his family after all, that had quelled any notion anyone might have had that there was something actually going on behind it.

"What do you reckon Commander? Wanna show these nug-humpers how it's done?" Oghren asked, getting to his feet,

"I'm game if you are!" She replied, taking his offered hand up and went to make her way to the rest of the group,

"Ha, I know your tricks! I'll just watch and provide the ale," he laughed,

"What on earth do you mean?" she opened her eyes wide and tried to look as innocent as possible, he pulled her down to whisper in her ear,

"Don't you play the innocent with me lass. You cheat. But don't worry, I won't let on" he winked at her and took his place in the circle between Justice and Sigrun. Elissa just chuckled to herself, grabbed her tankard and a blanket, it was a little cold with just under armour on, and headed over to the others. Nathaniel and Anders made room for her between them and the cards were dealt. With a shifty look towards Oghren, who was barely controlling his grin, she focused on her hand. Time to show this lot who was boss!

It had been a long few days travel for Zevran and Alistair. Especially for Zevran. Alistair had refused to talk about why he needed to speak to Elissa, no matter how Zevran had tried to trick him in to letting something slip. He also refused to speak about their times battling the darkspawn and just looked more sullen whenever Zevran tried to bring it up so that after a couple of attempts Zevran had let the matter drop and they'd continued in silence. They'd reached Vigils Keep in the two days Zevran had promised only to find out Elissa wasn't there. Alistair had had to reign in his anger a little lest he scare the poor elf, Arwen, that Zevran had charmed the information out of. She wasn't far at least, only a few hours ride into the hills. Arwen had helpfully given directions to the spot they were likely camped at. The only problem was that she had the others with her. Alistair had hoped to speak to her alone. He didn't really know how their little reunion was going to go.

As they climbed the hills he finally spoke for the first time in hours, "So, what do you know about this group she has with her?"

"What do you mean?" Zevran asked, "They're Grey Wardens, they're more than capable of-"

"That's not what I meant," Alistair cut him off, "I meant do I know any of them?"

Zevran almost laughed then, "Ah, you mean what are the chances they're going to be less than impressed to see you?" Alistair just nodded back, yes, he'd rather not be jumped by a gang of Grey Wardens before he even managed to open his mouth, thank you very much.

"Well lets see. You should be fine with nearly everyone I think. I haven't met them myself of course, I just know what I've been told about them. Meeting Nathaniel should be, mmm, interesting shall we say? Oghren's there of course," Alistair spluttered at that, Zevran grinned, he knew that would take him by surprise,

"Excuse me?! Oghren's a Grey Warden now?"

"Oh yes. Oghren is indeed a Grey Warden. There's a **possibility** the Commander herself will attack you on sight and a **probability** Oghren will attack you on sight. But think yourself lucky Sten has gone home, you wouldn't get within half a mile of her if he'd been here." Zevran grinned.

"Oh lucky lucky me," Alistair quipped, almost sounding like his old self.

It wasn't long after that they approached the clearing Arwen had described, they could see the light of a camp fire in the growing dark and hear laughter. Peeking through the trees Zevran could see The silhouette of Elissa, with her war hound by her side.

"Wait here," he told Alistair, Alistair just nodded silently. He was nervous as Zevran slipped through the trees.

The betting was getting ridiculous. Justice didn't gamble so he was just watching with Oghren. Sigrun had been the first out with Velanna not far behind her. Which left just Nathaniel and Anders left in the game. Luck alone had kept Anders in but Elissa was pretty sure Nathaniel was onto her. He was a rouge with a good eye but she was enjoying watching him trying to figure out how she was doing it, she'd even let him win a hand or two in an attempt to throw him off. She was just about to show her cards when she heard a voice right behind her.

"Still using the lovely Isabella's tricks I see?" Zevran was barely holding his amusement in check,

"Zevran?!" Elissa cried, launching herself onto her feet and into his arms for a hug, "Zevran! What in the Makers name are you doing here?" she was laughing and hugging him, it had been far too long since she had seen him. Oghren roared his own greeting from by the fire and Zevran raised a hand in acknowledgement from around Elissas back.

"Watching you cheat these poor fools out of all their coin," he replied when she finally released him. She'd half forgotten they were surrounded by people in the joy of seeing her old friend. Turning quickly she hastily said, "Everyone, this is Zevran, Zevran this is-"

"Lissa, wait," he interrupted her, "before you make introductions, you should know I'm not here alone," he waved his arm toward the tree line inviting Alistair forward.

Alistair watched all this from his spot in the trees and frowned. Did Zevran just call her Lissa? When did this development take place? Were they closer than he thought? Before he could contemplate it further Zevran signalled him into the clearing, well here we go, he swallowed hard and stepped forward.

Zevran saw the moment Elissa recognised Alistair and saw the light go out in her eyes. This was not going to be easy.

She took half a step back, leaned into one hip, crossed her arms over her chest and in her sweetest and therefore most dangerous voice said,

"Oghren, dearest, do you have your axe handy?" Oghren let out a laugh and within seconds was on his feet, giant axe in hand. The others knew just what that sweet voice meant, Nathaniel already had an arrow notched and Anders held a ball of fire in each palm. Everywhere she looked a weapon was pointed at Alistair. They were just waiting on her order. He kept walking forward though, head held high, and stopped a few feet away from them.

Zevran put his arms up in front of him in a placating gesture,

"My dear Lissa! Is this how you treat your guests? It is no wonder the Grey Wardens are so low in number," humour apparently was the wrong approach as she turned her fiery gaze on him. Eyes that were almost black glared at him.

"Zevran, what are you doing here?" Zevran was amazed by how different the same question had sounded just a few moment earlier.

"I asked him to bring me here," Alistair spoke up, "I need your help."


	4. Chapter 4

Alistair was aware of the position he was in but didn't look at the people pointing a variety of weapons in his direction. He stared into Elissa dark eyes and refused to look away. The seconds dragged on during their silent battle of wills, either she would order the attack or she wouldn't. Alistair silently implored her to hear him out. If she would only hear what he had to say he was sure she would agree he had no choice but to come to her.

Elissa was furious. After months of waiting and hoping he would come back she had finally decided to let it go and focus on her duty as Commander of the Grey Wardens. And now he comes back? NOW?! Zevran cleared his throat next to her, bringing her back into the moment. Sighing she dropped her arms from in front of her chest,

"Fine. Say what you came here to say, but this had better be good," she turned, gesturing to the others to lower their weapons.

"Elissa..." Alistair murmured,

"Don't Alistair, just don't." Elissa said quietly, turning her back on him.

"Who's that?" she distinctly heard Nathaniel whisper to Oghren,

"Don't ask kiddo," he replied, "Seriously, don't ask." She smirked in his direction and went back to the fire, finished her tankard of ale and passed it to Oghren for a refill only then did she nod for Zevran and Alistair to join them. Alistair caught Zevrans eye and shrugged, first hurdle over, he felt some of the tension leave his shoulders. Okay, here comes the easy part, he thought ruefully and keeping an eye on Oghren joined the hostile group.

"Okay," Elissa said, "I'm listening" Alistair looked pointedly around the fire at the others then back at Elissa hoping she would get the hint, she just raised a brow back at him in silent challenge, daring him to ask for privacy. Alistair sighed, resigned to the fact he would have an audience for his story after all but slightly pleased they could still communicate without having to say a word.

"It's a long story," he started, "I'm no bard but I'll do my best..."

Alistair had been in a sorry state for quite some time after the defeat of the archdemon. Frequenting various taverns of diminishing reputation feeling sorry for himself. Looking doubly hard at every woman with black hair and black eyes that he saw. Once or twice he'd even considered trying to find some peace in the arms of one of them but never did. It would just be a pale imitation. It got to a point that every tavern that wasn't packed to the rafters with scum started to make it very clear that he and his coin were no longer welcome so Alistair had started to venture out of Denerim and into the surrounding countryside. Travelling by day and spending his evenings at Inns, most nights with his head down on a bar table, not even capable of making it to his room.

It was in an Inn such as this where he shared the bar with a rowdy group of Templars. It was on the road to Orlais and the Templars had been sent to catch any apostates attempting to flee there from Fereldan. They had been in the area for awhile by the sounds of things, boasting about how many apostates they'd captured. Alistair had done his best to ignore them and kept to himself in a corner, quietly drinking as he did every night. The affairs of Templars was none of his business any more.

Late that night, once the bar was empty and the tavern keeper had retired for the evening Alistair found himself shaken awake. He'd fallen asleep at the table, tankard still in hand. Someone had thoughtfully thrown a blanket over his shoulders and his first instinct was to just go back to sleep.

"Alistair," a voice roughly whispered in his ear, "Andrastes ass Alistair! Wake up." Now that got his attention. He hadn't used that name since Fereldan, preferring to travel under a false name hoping less people would recognise him for who he really was. Lifting his heavy head from the table he looked up to see one of the Templars from earlier.

"Exactly how much of this stuff have you had Alistair?" he asked, squinting into the tankard and pulling a face, "this stuff will kill you."

"I'm sorry," Alistair said, "but who are you? And what business is it of yours what I drink?" Alistair looked into the Templars face, he did look a bit familiar now he thought about it. Did they meet at the Circle? The Templar was older than Alistair by quite a few years. Grey just dusted his temples but his eyes were alert and the hand that shook him strong.

"You may not remember me Alistair but I'd know you anywhere. The Templar that became a Grey Warden. I was part of the Chantry when you were a boy, taught you a bit of sword play. My name is Ser Geoffrey Martel and I think I may need your help. Come, lets get some fresh air."

Alistair and Geoffrey headed outside, the cool sea breeze helping to clear Alistair's head and allowed him to think clearly.

"Yes, I think I do remember you," he said once they'd walked down the coast a little. Geoffrey seemed concerned about being overheard, "although I don't know what you think I could help you with. I'm clearly no longer with the Templars, as you seem to remember and I've seen no apostates in the area."

Geoffrey looked around, making sure they hadn't been followed Alistair assumed. What could he be so concerned about Alistair wondered.

"Alistair, there isn't much time. I will soon be missed and I don't know if I will ever get an opportunity like this again. Please listen to me. There is something very wrong at the circle. At all the circle of magi I think. The Templars once lived beside the mages, we were there only if something went wrong. The mages understood the necessity of it, or at least they seemed to. No true mage wants to become an abomination, they would beg for our swords first. But since the circle at Fereldan lost control...well lets just say that many of my order are not willing to let something like that happen again."

"But the Fereldan circle is fine! I was there. The blood mages were defeated, order was restored and First Enchanter Irving was put back in charge. Even Knight-Commander Greagoir was satisfied with the outcome." Alistair protested.

"That is not good enough for some in my order I'm afraid. There are Templars that insist we need to prevent these things from happening with force, brutal force in some circumstances. They say the mages that resist are obviously hiding their true nature and will turn on us all. The more restrictions and punishments the Templars inflict upon the mages the more the mages resist and so the problem keep worsening. Whenever a mage breaks and turns to forbidden magic or fights back the more it reinforces the notion that all mages are dangerous and only adds fuel to the fire. The Templars that share this belief grow in number with every such incident." Geoffrey looked around them again, peering into the dark for any signs they were being overheard.

"But this is only the beginning of the tale. There is some darker conspiracy at work here. I know it. The rite of Tranquillity has become a punishment for mages that the Templars even _suspect_ may have broken a rule. And worse, there have been rumours of Templars using lyrium branding on mages, I do not know what the purpose of such a thing could be, the lyrium branding would only make the mage more powerful. It makes no sense but the rumours are there." Geoffrey paused to give Alistair time to take it all in.

"The circle at Ferelden seems to be out of immediate danger, for now. The rumours seem to be coming from a tower in Halanshiral, in The Dales. Please, Alistair. Something needs to be done before more lives are lost. I cannot be seen to be turning on the Templars, they would brand me a traitor and possibly execute me. I know you are a Grey Warden, that you once travelled with the Hero of Ferelden. There must be something you can do."

Alistair was stunned into silence. He had heard of Templars trying to abuse their power before but this...could this really be true?

"Ser Geoffrey, I understand your position. I do. But I cannot act on rumour alone. Do you have any proof of the things you claim?"

Geoffrey pulled a piece of folded paper from the inside of his armour.

"Here. This is all I have. It's not proof of the lyrium branding but it is orders from the Knight-Commander of Halanshiral demanding that all apostates, no matter where they are found, are to be brought straight to his tower. There has never been an order like this before. We have always taken apostates to the nearest tower that has room. It can help the mages to have people around them that started life in the same places they themselves did. I'm afraid I can be no more help than this."

Alistair took the paper, it was indeed as Geoffrey had said, the Knight-Commanders seal branded the order. He took a deep breath. This was more than just a few Templars.

"Thank you Ser Geoffrey, I will do what I can." Alistair had no idea what that might be exactly but this could not be allowed to continue.

"Maker bless you my friend," Geoffrey said, "Maker bless you. It pains me to turn on my brothers in such a way, but I cannot stand by any longer. I only hope it is not too late to put a stop to this madness."

And with that Geoffrey turned and quickly went back the way he had come to the inn.

Alistair stood rooted to the spot for some time. The order that Geoffrey had left in his hand blowing in the wind. What was he to do now? Could he really take the word of a man he hadn't seen in such a long number of years? But if he wasn't to act at all then could he live with himself if it was true and he'd done nothing? This is why I don't lead, he thought to himself. The first order of business, it seemed, would be to investigate the Circle Tower at Halanshiral but Alistair didn't even know where that could be. The Dales were not a small place. And what would he do? Just knock on the Tower door and ask the nearest Templar if any experiments on mages were taking place on the premisses? Alistair laughed at himself. Turning he followed Geoffrey's path back to the Inn. One thing was certain, if he was going to do something then he wasn't going to be much good on his own.

Back in his room he started getting ready to leave, if he was going back he may as well get started. Rummaging into the bottom of his pack his fingers closed over something hard. Pulling it out to get a look he realised it was his mothers amulet. If Elissa were here she'd know exactly what to do, he thought, or at least make a decision either way. She wouldn't stand here frozen by indecision, unable to act. He put the amulet around his neck, tucking it carefully under his armour and threw the rest of his possessions into his pack. He knew what he had to do.


	5. Chapter 5

"And, I guess that's all of it," Alistair said, "I found Zevran and we made our way here." For a few seconds all was silent around the camp fire. Then suddenly everyone was asking questions at once, shouting to, and over, each other. Only Elissa and Alistair sat in silence, merely looking into each others eyes, each trying to read the other. He was pretty sure she believed him, she just seemed to be putting her thoughts together. When she spoke it was quietly, but the others hushed to listen to what she had to say.

"You still have this note I take it?" She asked. He nodded and handed it over to her, feeling a strange sense of relief as he did so, as though the burden of carrying it was no longer his but passed to another. Is this how she feels all the time? He wondered. Burdened down by the responsibility others place on you? If it is, I have just added to it, he realised.

"And do you have any other evidence at all? Anything you've heard?"

"Actually, yes." Alistair replied, "On my way to find Zevran I stayed a night in a barn belonging to a family that I know. They've aided apostates and run-away mages from time to time. They would give them a room for the night and some food before sending them on their way. Anyway, they happened to mention they'd not seen any for quite some time and that there were rumours of apostates going missing and occasionally mages from the circle itself. They had put it down to the darkspawn and I didn't discourage this theory but it is something else to think about."

"Indeed." Elissa said. Her eyes were on the paper still in her hands but she wasn't seeing it. She was lost in thought.

"Alistair, you know the Grey Wardens cannot officially interfere in business such as this right? We are here to fight the darkspawn. We take no side in battles for the crown, wars and all that. Not that it seemed to stop Earl Eamon but that's not the point, I-" meeting his eyes again Alistair could see she was torn between wanting to help and abiding by the rules of her order.

"Well let's just keep it unofficial shall we?" He joked before he could think better of it. The smile she tried to hide felt like a victory to him.

Bastard, she thought, he always did know how to make me laugh.

"I'll think on what you've said," she told him. Getting to her feet. "There's only a few hours left until morning. I'll have an answer for you then." With that she nodded goodnight to the rest of her party and entered her tent, her war hound at her heels. The rest of the group quickly followed suit, splitting into pairs to whisper and look fugitively over their shoulders at Alistair and Zevran.

"Well," said Zevran once they were alone again, "How do you think it went?"

"Better than I feared, worse than I'd hoped." He replied. He was still looking at Elissa's tent. Zevran just patted him on the shoulder and moved away a little to set up his bedroll and catch a few hours sleep. Alistair sat at the camp fire a while longer, listening to the sounds of the forest. It was strange being this close to her again and yet so distant. But he'd done what he had set out to do. Morning would bring what it would, he decided. And tried to sleep.

Elissa was first out of her tent in the morning. She hadn't got much sleep, truth be told she had just wanted some quiet to make her decisions in peace. It had been an eventful evening to say the least and seeing Alistair had thrown her, she could admit that to herself if no one else. She looked over to where he still lay near the burned out fire. He still looked good too damn it, she sighed. Stretching out her arms and hearing her joints pop she started picking up her armour from where it still sat on the ground.

"That's still gross by the way," she heard a voice mumble making her jump, "The whole joint popping thing? Still gross" she turned to see Alistair peeking up at her through one eye,

"Good morning to you too," She huffed back at him. She grabbed a skein of water and sat down, "this is going to be bad isn't it?"

"If it's true," he reminded her, sitting up "then yes, it's going to be bad." Their eyes met in mutual understanding.

"What happened to your amour by the way?" she asked. The last time she'd seen him he was wearing a golden set of Viridium.

"Well, you're not an easy woman to find you know. I had to sell some to buy information from people then sell some more to get here faster. Even took a boat at one point to try and cut out going over the Frostback Mountains," he shuddered, "Never again, the ships captain was a dwarf," he shuddered again, "never, ever again. There's many reason you don't see dwarfs at sea and I've seen them all first hand." Reaching for his own water he said, "While we're still alone I wanted to talk to you about Loga-"

"You two make enough noise to wake the ancestors!" Oghren grumbled coming out of his own tent.

Elissa rolled her eyes at him, "Good morning Sunshine," she immediately pulled a small bottle of potion from one pocket and a hip flask from the other and threw them over to him. He caught them with no warning, an indication to Alistair that this was routine.

"Oghren sometimes needs a little help to get going in the morning," said a voice behind him, the mage if Alistair remembered correctly "My own recipe of herbs and some watered down mead, he'll be his usual jovial self in half an hour."

"Anders, could you get the fire please?" Asked Elissa, getting up to grab a pot, "I've got to get Velanna's and Justices tea going,"

Alisatir watched as the camp came to life and one by one Elissa's team joined them. Their morning ran like a well oiled machine, everyone knew the others needs with barely a word needing to be said. It was strangely sad to watch it as an outsider especially when he had been part of something similar not too long ago.

Once everyone was settled and seated Elissa stood before them. She had donned her armour and it seemed to change her demeanour somewhat. She stood taller and radiated authority. She was just one of them a moment ago, now she was their commander.

"Okay everyone. I have reached a decision. This threat from the circle can not be ignored. However, this is not something the Grey Wardens can officially be a part of. I can't and won't order any of you to be a part of this. This is strictly volunteer only. Let me be completely clear, I cannot guarantee that the Wardens will understand what I've done if they ever hear of it. If we are found out and I'm stripped of my title I may not be able to protect you, I will however do all I can to make sure the blame falls on myself and not on you. That's all I can offer I'm afraid. So anyone that wishes to leave may do so with no repercussions or hard feeling." Elissa paused, giving them time to decide. No one moved a muscle.

"A chance to catch corrupt Templars? I'm in!" Anders piped up, when everyone nodded or made sounds of agreement he continued, "I'm not the only one it seems, I think its unanimous."

Elissa took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before continuing, "Thank you all. The first thing has to be to check to make sure what this Templar said is true and we'll go from there. However, some people need to stay back to make sure The Keep is secure and continue clearing out the darkspawn. Sigrun, Justice and Velanna, I need you to stay here-" this announcement was immediately followed by loud outbursts from the ones mentioned.

"Sigrun, Justice and Velanna, you will be staying here." She said over them. "Anders, Nathaniel and Oghren, you're with me," Oghren let out a little laugh, clearly happy he'd be going along. "Those staying, you'll be going back to The Keep as soon as camp is packed up. The Seneschal will no doubt have questions about my whereabouts and while I wouldn't normally ask you to lie I _do_ ask that you put off telling him the truth as long as possible. The last thing we need is a search party out looking for us while we're trying to investigate. Keep looking for pockets of darkspawn and I'll be back as soon as I can. If this ends up being nothing more than rumour I could be back in a matter of days. I also want you to take Rabbit with you," The dog let out a little whine, "Now don't you start," she told him with a mock frown, "We're going to be moving camp a lot plus sneaking into castles, stealth isn't exactly you strong suit." The dog seemed to except this and went to sit next to Sigrun, "Good boy," she told him, "Those coming with me, we'll talk once camp is packed. Okay, you know what you're doing, dismissed."

Less than an hour later the camp was packed up. Everything except the absolute necessities were going back to The Keep as were Alistair's and Zevran's horses and someone had been nice enough to offer Alistair their tent. Sigrun, Velanna and Justice stood in front of Elissa to say goodbye.

"I'll make sure to leave some darkspawn left for you Commander, don't worry." said Sigrun with a wink as she led the others out of the clearing.

Elissa turned to see Alistair, Zevran, Oghren, Anders and Nathaniel grouped behind her and sighed.

"Okay, lets get this over with," she said, "Alistair, Zevran, this is Anders ex-fugitive from the Circle. Anders managed to escape the circle seven times, he's an incredible mage and healer. We're lucky to have him." Anders did a little bow, "Anders, this is Zevran, formally of The Crows, with us all the way from Antiva, he helped me defeat the archdemon. And this is Alistair, also a Grey Warden but before that he was a Templar," She watched Anders do a double take, "He didn't take his vows and was recruited from the Chantry, much to the disdain of the Grand Cleric. So play nice." She said giving Anders a stern look, Anders just looked sullen but nodded quietly.

"Good." She said, this next one was going to be fun, "And this is Nathaniel Howe" it was Alistair's turn for the double take.

"Howe? Did you say Howe?" Alistair said, surprise opening his mouth before he thought it through.

"You heard right," Elissa replied, giving Alistair a cold look, "Nathaniel is our resident rogue and poisons expert, he's also a monster with a bow and an excellent tracker so hunting will mostly fall to him too." She stared straight at Alistair now, mostly directing her words at him, "I trust Nathaniel with my life and more importantly with the lives of my team, after a shaky start he's given me absolutely no reason to doubt him," She said, with a small wink in Nathaniel's direction, Nathaniel himself rather taken aback but pleased by her declaration of trust, "And let's face it, his wasn't the first shaky start some of us have had," with a pointed look in Zevrans direction, Zevran just chuckled.

"True, he mumbled, "True."

Turning to Nathaniel, "Nate, Alistair and Zevran. You know I once told you that one of my best friends had tried to kill me?" Nathaniel nodded, he hadn't actually taken her seriously at the time, "That would be Zevran. Apparently recruiting would-be assassins is some sort of hobby of mine. So, introductions made. Can the rest of you double check the camp please? I need a word with Zevran."

Once the others had put a little distance between themselves and Elissa she turned to Zevran,

"Zev, you're not coming either."

"I think I misheard you my dear Warden, it sounded like you said I wasn't going with you?"

"Zevran, listen to me. I have bad feeling about this. If it goes wrong and something happens to us I need you to get word to the others. Find Leliana, Wynne, Shale, if you're lucky you might find Sten. You could even try Bann Teagan. Plus, obviously, everyone at The Keep. If we don't return then find them and tell them what has happened. Don't let them bury this, if something like this is indeed happening then the Makers knows where it could lead." Zevran still looked reluctant, "Please Zev. I need you to be my Plan B." He still looked unhappy about it but nodded. He would do as she asked, "Thank you my friend." She said, relieved.

"Mmm," he said back, "just make sure you don't need a Plan B yes? And no getting killed."

"Not unless I think it's really important, I remember." She smiled at him and gave him a quick hug.

And with that Zevran grabbed his pack, said his goodbyes to the others and set off down the path.

Just the five of them left. She just had to hope it would be enough.


	6. Chapter 6

"Okay ladies," Elissa said, calling them over to her, "just one or two things before we go. First, I know time is of the essence but I do want us to stop in a darkspawn cave or two on our way down the mountains, we'll be passing them anyway and I want to see how we fight as a unit before we meet any tougher competition. We're a slightly larger group than usual and I want to see how that will effect us. Also, myself aside, none of you are used to a warrior using a shield since I duel wield and Oghren uses a two handed weapon. Oghren and Alistair rarely fought together during the blight as having three warriors in one unit could get messy, especially in close quarters. So Nate, you're pretty much going to be exclusively using your bow and staying at range with Anders. Secondly, I want you to divide any potions and drafts we have between us. I know it's only one extra person but it's still an extra person that Anders will be trying to heal. Any pressure we can take off him the better. Also split rations, water etc. in case we get split up. Any questions?"

"Just one," Oghren said, "can we get going already? All this talking is making my hands itch."

"Yes Oghren, we're going." She said smiling at him. "Everyone ready?" She asked once all the supplies had been distributed between them, "Good. Let's go."

With a glance back at their abandoned camp site Elissa let them out of the clearing and onto the path.

Elissa was quiet for most of the morning Alistair noticed. He'd taken up position at the back of their little party with Elissa at the front and the others between them. Anders, Nathaniel and Oghren were chatting amongst themselves. They'd tried engaging Elissa in conversation a few times but after only getting one word responses from her they'd finally taken the hint and left her alone.

Around noon Elissa stopped them again.

"Alright everyone. Just through the trees here is a small darkspawn cave. You probably can't sense them since they're pretty low in number, should only be between six and ten according to the scouting parties. We were going to stop here on our way back to the Keep so we may as well use it for a bit of practice. Like I said earlier, Nate and Anders will be using ranged weapons, Oghren your first priority is to keep them alive. Anything gets within six feet of them and you kill it, understood?"

"Aye," Oghren answered, his eyes gleaming at the prospect of a fight.

"That leaves Alistair and I up front," she said, nodding at him, "Lets just take it slow and easy. We've each killed hundreds of these things, we know what we're doing with them, but watch each others attacks. None of us wants a sword in the back."

The cave itself was only a few yards off the path. Just a small opening between two boulders really. Elissa silently gestured them forward and they took up a two-one-two formation, with herself and Alistair at the front and Nathaniel and Anders at the back. Elissa saw Anders making complicated hand gestures behind her and heard her swords burst into flame on her back. As quietly as they could they entered the cave unsheathing their weapons as they went.

They were barely inside when they heard the first roar of a darkspawn, Elissa sounded her own war cry in return, bolstering their resolve as the first monster emerged from the shadows. It was a Hurlock and it made straight for Alistair. He knocked it back easily with his shield, slashing at it with his sword as it fell to the ground, a quick arrow from Nathaniel finished it off quickly just as two warrior Genlocks took its place. Alistair and Elissa took one each, Alistair using his shield to pummel the shorter enemy before going in with his sword and Elissa swinging both her full sized swords around in an arc, practically cutting her Genlock in half.

"Ranged weapons!" Nathaniel shouted just before several arrows flew at them from the darker reaches of the cave, spinning to the side Elissa managed to avoid them while Alistair raised his shield, letting the arrows bounce harmlessly off the metal.

"Anders!" Elissa yelled,

"On it!" was the only response before a fire ball hurtled past them, lighting the back of the cave and setting one of the archer Hurlocks aflame.

"Oghren?" Elissa called,

"I've got it!" He shouted back, "Go get them,"

Elissa and Alistair charged forward and with the aid of Nathaniel's arrows quickly dispatched the Hurlocks before they'd really had change to grab their swords. Elissa turned just in time to see Oghren swing his huge axe around his head, finishing off the final Genlock.

"Huh," Oghren said, "that it? Wasn't even enough to get the blood pumping." He was almost pouting,

"Don't worry Oghren," Elissa told him, "I'll find you some more things to kill" Oghren was chuckling as they left the cave.

Alistair practically collapsed onto his bedroll that night. He was exhausted. Elissa had kept them at it all day and it was dark by the time they made camp. He felt as though she'd dragged them into every cave in Ferelden before she finally gave up for the day. He had barely had to swing his sword since the blight and it showed. Everything hurt. Especially his left shoulder, the scars were healed but it looked as though there had been more permanent damage than he'd thought. He rolled it a little and winced. It was going to be even worse tomorrow he decided. She'd been right to have them practice though. More than once they'd found themselves almost hitting each other. Elissa and Alistair had almost fallen over each other several times and more than once he'd felt an arrow or spell barely miss him. Oghren had been in his element though, playing guardian seemed to suit him and he revelled in taking care of any darkspawn that managed to find it's way past Alisatir and Elissa. Luckily no one, with the possible exception of Elissa, had noticed him slowing down toward the end and she hadn't bothered to ask him about it. In fact, aside from issuing orders she hadn't said a word to him since leaving camp that morning. He had to admit it bothered him more than he thought it would but he was willing to give it time. It was only the first day after all. If he tried pushing their new tenuous civility more towards the friendship they'd once shared there was a good chance it would only make things worse.

It was his shoulder that caused him to wake up very early the next day, he'd rolled onto it causing the muscle to cramp in protest. Hissing through his teeth he sat up, trying to massage the muscles into relaxing. After a few minutes he knew it was no good. He had some salve in the bottom on his pack, he hadn't had to use it in months and had almost thrown it away before deciding to hang on to it just in case. He'd dumped his pack outside his tent the night before so it was with a groan that he lifted himself up and made his way outside.

He didn't notice her at first, a small figure sat with a single candle and a map spread out on the floor in front of her. He'd always marvelled at how small she was out of her armour. How could someone as tiny as this become a monster of pure righteous fury on the battlefield, putting the fear of the Maker into seasoned soldiers? He'd seen it happen and he still couldn't explain it.

"Did you get any sleep at all last night?" He asked. Everyone had had been too tired to do anything else but to retire to their tents as soon as they could with just a few mumbled 'goodnights' passed between them.

She shook her head, barely glancing up from the map, "Too much to think about," she said quietly.

Alistair just sighed. Grabbing his pack he rummaged for the small jar of salve. Keeping his back to her he pulled his tunic over his head and rubbed it into every part of his shoulder he could reach. The relief was almost instantaneous. He rolled it around a few times just to test it and it felt much better. He'd have to start using it again, morning and evenings if he wanted to keep using this arm. Glancing round he saw Elissa quickly avert her eyes and look back at the map. Grinning to himself he pulled his tunic back on and made his way over to stand behind her. The map was fairly detailed and although he could see Halamshiral clearly labelled the tower itself was not.

"So, fearless leader," he said, just to break the silence really, "where are we going?"

She let out a sigh and traced a finger along The Imperial Highway. "There are two main routes open to us. We can take The Imperial Highway straight to Gherlen's pass and we can use the pass to get over The Frostback mountains. That would take us to The Dales then back on the highway again all the way to Halamshiral. Or we could head towards either Highever or West Hill and try to take a ship to Jader then walk the rest of the way along the coast and come from the north to Halamshiral itself." She ran her fingers through her hair and frowned at the map. Alistair tried his best to ignore the scent released from her hair and leaned further over to study the map closer.

"Mmm," he said, "The ship would be faster but we're a lot more likely to be recognised. Especially in Highever. I'm not sure it's worth the risk."

She nodded, "That's exactly what I thought. If we follow the road we can walk in the trees and loop around the areas with heavier traffic. We're also a lot more likely to see Templars that way and if they're all as rowdy as the group you saw we might be able to overhear some valuable information. If we get on a ship with some people that recognise us then we're stuck until the ship docks."

"Agreed," Alisatir said, straightening again."I'm going to get some wood and get the fire going. Give the others a hot breakfast to wake up to, good impressions and all that." When she just nodded again he was disappointed, he'd half hoped she would offer to join him. He headed back to his tent to get his armour when he heard her ask softly,

"Alisatir? Where'd you get the scars?"

He turned back, "Denerim."

"Oh." she said, and focused on the map again. Alisatir smiled to himself. It wasn't much but it was a start.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN: This chapter is a bit shorter than some of the others. I stopped it where I did because it was the only place that made sense. This chapter would have been huge otherwise. As always, criticism is welcome! Thank you for reading._

It had been two days, they were almost at the Imperial Highway and Elissa was getting increasingly concerned. She'd pulled them into every fight she could, be it darkspawn, bandits or just the local overly aggressive wildlife. While their unity in battle improved with every encounter they still weren't working as a team the way she had hoped. The plan was to allow them to bond via near-death experiences, it had always worked before but for whatever reason it just wasn't happening. She was starting to think that Anders and Nathaniel were keeping a distance from Alisatir because they could sense the tension between Alistair and herself. Oghren obviously knew their history but she knew him well enough to be sure he had kept it to himself. She wasn't ready to revisit old wounds by clearing the air between them yet although Alisatir had looked like he was about to bring it up a number of times. She had always found a way to change the subject or something mysterious would suddenly catch her eye in the trees and would have to be investigated immediately, the fact that these mysterious things were never found proved nothing. Alisatir was quite shy deep down, one of many reasons he hadn't wanted to take the crown, but she knew how isolated he was probably feeling. The person he seemed to be having the hardest time with was Nathaniel. She was sure it was because Alistair was having a hard time getting past the fact that Nathaniel was a Howe, it was understandable, Oghren had been the same at first but the longer this was allowed to fester the harder it would become. It was time for some alone time.

She called an early camp that afternoon, claiming to be not feeling too well.

Once the tents were set up she called over their chosen clearing to Nathaniel, "Nate, we're running low on food, feel up to a bit of hunting?"

"Sure Commander, I'm not doing anything anyway." he replied. She waited until he grabbed his bow was just about to leave before saying, "Alistair, why don't you go with him?" Alistair turned around in surprise. What was going on now? He thought, I'm a terrible hunter. Elissa did her best to look innocent and not laugh at the look on Alistair's face. He sometimes made it really hard for her to stay angry with him.

"Erm, Commander, I'm fine really, I-" Nathaniel started to protest, she looked at him with her head tilted to one side and he huffed, "Sure, why not. Come on then Alistair." Nathaniel waited for him to grab his sword and shield then vanished into the trees. Alistair gave her a puzzled look then followed.

"Not feeling well huh? Clever, very clever." Oghren said from beside her.

Well, this is awkward. That was all Alisatir could think fifteen minutes later when he and Nathaniel were still walking along in silence. Small talk, come on Alistair, think of something to say! "Soooo Nathaniel. Erm, so how'd you end up joining the Grey Wardens?" it was honestly the only thing he could think of.

Nathaniel rolled his eyes, this guy was the worst hunter ever, but he'd made a silent agreement with himself to at least try and get along with Alistair so he said, "Actually I was at Vigils Keep before the Commander. It used to be my family home, before the blight of course. I'd been in the free marches for years in the army and when I came home I discovered my father was dead, my family home taken by the Grey Wardens and my name was worth less than dirt. Then to top it all off the woman who had killed my father was now Commander of The Grey and living in my fathers house. I was a tad upset. So I went to Amaranthine to lay a trap for her, poison her most likely and get some of my family's things back. I was caught and instead of having me executed the Commander recruited me and here I am. So what was it like fighting the blight?"

"Archdemon, taint, taint, taint, you know, that old chestnut. I'm sorry, you tried to kill her?" Alistair couldn't believe it, what had she been thinking?!

"Well I never actually got the chance to try and kill her, I was caught before she had even arrived. Took four Wardens to do it though. When the Keep had been cleared of darkspawn I was still in a cell. The Commander came to see me, I told her who I was, why I was there and what I'd been planing. I'm still not entirely sure why she did what she did, I mean, was it just because she needed the men? Did she just not want to execute me or did she see something in me? At first I was furious, conscripted to the very order that had been my families down-fall? But over time Elissa helped me see that my father wasn't as I had remembered, he wasn't just an unfortunate casualty that happened to be on the loosing side of a war. More importantly, I didn't have to be like him. She could have killed me that day in revenge for her family, just as I was going to do to her. Instead I found meaning in the Wardens and a chance to show people that not all the Howes are the same as my father. I'm grateful."

Alistair didn't know what to say. If it had been him in her shoes he'd have called for this man's execution immediately and he'd have been wrong. She was too still too trusting as far as he was concerned but if Nathaniel was willing to let go of his fathers past then maybe he could too.

"It's really quite easy, I can show you if you like. Poison making is just like herbalism really, it's just a matter of finding the right ingredients." Elissa turned as she heard Nathaniel's voice, he and Alistair were chatting, actually chatting, when they returned to the clearing a while later carrying a pair of rabbits each. Nathaniel caught her eye as he passed and she sent him an enquiring look. He inclined his head slightly before saying, "Worst. Hunter. Ever!" Loud enough for Alistair to hear, she winced but Alistair just laughed and sat at the fire to prepare the meat. Nathaniel winked at her and went to join him. One down, Elissa thought.

"We should be hitting the Imperial highway in around an hour." Elissa said just before they set out the next morning. "It should be fairly quiet this far north and I'm hoping we're far enough away from Amaranthine that as long as we don't advertise the fact that we're Grey Wardens no one should recognise us too easily. There's also a small village a few miles west so we're probably best stopping there and stocking up on supplies. Alisatir could also do with some decent armour so have a think if there's anything the rest of you need." Elissa was feeling pretty good after the evening before, everyone seemed more relaxed now that the ice between Nathaniel and Alistair had finally started to crack. It also helped that they were going to reach a village today, it had been nearly a week since she had seen anything except forest, a change of scenery would be welcome.

The village was tiny. But it did at least have an Inn, Chantry and small market. It was all they needed really. Elissa had pulled a hood over her head as they approached and they covered their more expensive weapons. There was no need to draw more attention than they had to. Oghren stopped outside the inn, he didn't need to say a word,

"Why don't you guys wait here for me? We don't need much, I'll come meet you once I've visited the market and had a look around."

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Oghren said and practically skipped to the pub. The others hesitated, none of them really wanting to leave her on her own. Elissa rolled her eyes, like she wasn't capable of looking after herself?

"I'm less likely to be spotted on my own anyway. Just don't let him get too drunk," she nodded in Oghren's direction, "we still need to find somewhere to stay tonight."

The village really was tiny. Even taking her time she'd circled it in only a few minutes. There was only one stall that sold armour and even then they only had one good set. Unfortunately it was out of her price range and no matter how hard she tried the stall owner wouldn't come down on price. He did, however, point her in the direction of the Chanters board. Anders wasn't going to be happy but they needed the gold. Most of the jobs were simple enough, someone had lost a piece of jewellery with sentimental meaning, boring. A farmer had been loosing live stock and wanted the matter investigating. Hopefully just wolves, she thought but knowing her luck it would be giant spiders, why was it always giant spiders? She wondered with a shudder. One job caught her eye though. It seemed some darkspawn had settled into an abandoned mine close by and the small village garrison wasn't able to deal with them. Checking the reward she saw it would pay more than enough for their supplies and Alistair's armour when added to the gold she already had. She took the notice and headed back to the inn to join the others.


	8. Chapter 8

For someone half her size Oghren was heavy, Elissa thought as she half supported him out the inn door late that evening. All four of the men had probably had a few drinks too many but Oghren was well and truly drunk. Luckily they didn't have too far to go. There was a field a little way out of the village that they could spend the night in. There wasn't as much tree cover as Elissa would have liked but there was a wall between the field and the village at least so no one should spot the camp fire. It was slow going with Oghren being held up by herself and Anders but they got there eventually. Elissa dumped Oghren unceremoniously on the ground where he rolled straight over and started snoring. Wonderful.

She sent Anders and Alistair off to gather some fire wood and went to work with Nathaniel setting up the tents. He wasn't much help, he was better off than Oghren but not by much. She was surprised, she hadn't seen Nathaniel relax this much in a long time and so she couldn't find it in her heart to be cross with him. They'd all been through a lot over the last few months, they deserved a night off every now and then. Who knew when they'd get another chance.

Anders and Alistair were back to help before long and as soon as the fire was going and the camp set up Nathaniel and Anders bid her good night and disappeared into their respective tents. Hopefully they'll sleep it off, she thought. Elissa sat herself close to the fire and dragged her map out of her pack to try and figure out where this mine was that they were supposed to tackle the next day. It was a few minutes before she realised that Alisatir was still there. He seemed to be having trouble with the jar of salve he used on his shoulder. Once he'd finally gotten it open she watched with amusement as he tried to rub it in. He wasn't getting it anywhere near where he needed it. After a few moments she took pity on him, approaching him she said quietly,

"Here, let me,"

"No," he slurred slightly, "I can do it."

"I know you can but Alistair you're wasting it and I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be on your shoulder, not your neck. Pass it here." This time he slapped the jar into her outstretched hand and sat before her on the grass. Kneeling behind him she got her first proper look at the scars that spanned his back and left shoulder blade. She'd seen them at a distance before but not this close. In fact, she realised, this was the closest they'd been since he'd come back. With slightly shaking fingers she scooped some of the salve out of the jar and gently began working it into the muscles, feeling the knots loosen under her hands. Letting out a sigh he murmured,

"That feels good," she was pretty sure he hadn't meant to say that out loud so swallowing hard she chose to ignore it for now.

"What happened Alistair?" She asked softly, not even completely sure she wanted to hear it.

"I went looking for you." He said, "After...well, after..."

"The Landsmeet?" She asked,

"Yes, after that I went looking for you but you'd already left for Redcliffe. I was about to go after you when the darkspawn attacked. I couldn't leave after that and I wanted to make sure my sister was safe. People had gathered near the chantry so I stayed to help protect them. Word had been sent to Redcliffe so we knew we just had to hold out until you arrived but the darkspawn army was overwhelming. There were so many of them Lissa. They poured through the gates, the guard didn't stand a chance." Her fingers stilled on his back. She'd had no idea he'd still been in the city, "A few of us managed to gather some of the towns people together and we were going to try and get them out when we got cornered. I stayed back to give them time to escape but by then some of the buildings had caught fire and the house I was standing next to collapsed, a beam fell on me. I was told that a chantry sister spotted me and a few of the guard that were left managed to drag me out but as you can see I didn't get away lightly. I was unconscious for a few days and by the time I came to it was over. The blight had ended...and you were gone."

Elissa blinked back the tears that had suddenly filled her eyes, immeasurably grateful that he still had his back to her and couldn't see them.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. How could you have known? It was worth it though. I got word from one the men at the Chantry, those that were gathered there, my sister included, had made it out."

Elissa realised then that he hand was still on his back, pulling it away as though burned she jumped to her feet.

"Well busy day tomorrow so I'm gonna turn in," she hardly recognised the fake cheery voice that came out of her mouth. Alistair turned, surprised by her sudden movement as she quickly made for her tent,

"Lissa," he said quietly, "We still need to talk about-"

"We will," she interrupted, just as quietly, "We will, I promise but not tonight OK?" without waiting for an answer she pulled the flap of her tent up and disappeared inside.

It took a long time for her to fall asleep that night.

She was waiting with a bottle of Anders' potion for each of them the next morning. Anders and Nathaniel looked rather sheepish as though expecting her to start shouting at them any moment. Oghren, of course, didn't care. Elissa had always wondered if he just didn't get real hangovers any more or whether he was constantly in a state of either drunkenness or hangover and therefore that he just didn't notice. Either way once he'd polished off his potion and mead he was as ready as ever to be on the road and to get to work.

The mine they planned to investigate wasn't far out of the village, just a few miles and since people had been told to keep away from it they didn't see a soul the whole way there. Approaching the entrance to the mine Elissa met each of their eyes and they gave a small nod each to indicate they were ready and she led the way inside.

Luckily darkspawn didn't see any better in the dark than they did so torches lined the path. Elissa had always thought this odd since surely they lived in the dark underground when there was no blight on? This wasn't the time for idle conversation though so she kept the thought to herself and kept walking. As the minutes dragged on she started to get nervous, they should have seen something by now shouldn't they? Were the darkspawn laying a trap for them? Unsheathing her weapons just in case she carried on walking, listening as carefully as she could for any sound that might give them away.

A few minutes later they reached an opening in the tunnel where the miners must have dug at some point. The path forked out into three different directions but before Elissa could decide which way to go darkspawn spilled from all three tunnels and headed straight toward them. Without looking behind her Elissa yelled,

"Anders, Nate back up! Take out the ones at the back. Oghren kill anything that gets past us!" glancing quickly to her side and seeing Alistair was ready beside her she let out a roar, taunting the darkspawn toward them and away from the others. Growling in response the darkspawn swarmed over each other to get at them, swinging swords and bows in the air. Focusing on the ones closest to her she swung her swords around in a sweep, injuring two and killing one, arrows and spells flew over her head as Nathaniel and Anders fired on the ones further away. She could hear the clanging of metal on metal as Alistair pushed the ones closest to him back to give himself room to bring his heavy sword around and the she saw two more Hurlocks fall at his feet.

"Alistair!" she shouted and knowing exactly what she had in mind he turned slightly and pressed his back to hers. Back to back they fought the mass of creatures, forming a circle of practised harmony, his brute strength coupled with her faster speed and grace. Dropping low she swung, taking the legs out from under several enemies before using the momentum to spin herself around Alistair's body to repeat the move on the other side. Alisatir anticipating her action, lifted his shield to allow her to pass underneath, he turned, plunging his sword in to fallen Genlocks. The tide of darkspawn wasn't letting up though as another wave of them came through one of the tunnels. Anders quickly summoned a glyph onto the floor at one entrance, cutting them off. Alistair brought his sword up over his head, Elissa dropped to her knees just in time for him to bring it in a full circle, taking out several darkspawn that were crowded around them.

"Rain of arrows!" Nathaniel warned behind them, Alistair grabbed her to him and lifted his shield over both their heads as projectiles fell from the air, she glanced behind his back to see Anders had conjured an arcane shield over Oghren's head, protecting him from the arrows. As soon as the it was clear Alistair released her, slashing his shield down as he did so, clearing the way for her stop block the attack of a Henlock that had somehow survived the onslaught of Nathaniel's attack and take it's head of with one more brutal swing of a long sword. Slashing to her left while he went right they turned back to back once more forming their circle. The tide of darkspawn was finally slowing,

"Almost there!" She shouted over her shoulder at Alistair.

"Already?" He quipped back in a winey tone, "they're just not putting the effort in!" he finished, bringing his sword down to hit the last Genlock in the face with the pommel. She let out a wild laugh and met his eyes, hers glittering and for one, brief shining moment it was if the last years had never happened and everything was as it it should be between them.

Elissa saw Alistair's eyes shift and saw his expression change but before she could react he'd pushed her aside with his shield leaving himself open for one last Hurlock that had been lurking in the shadows. Elissa watched in horror as it's sword went through his chest, his warm blood splashed her face,

"Alistair!" she screamed helplessly, the Hurlock seemed to roar in triumph just before Oghren tackled it to the ground. Dropping to her knees beside him she put pressure on the wound, trying to stop the blood that was running through her fingers.

"Anders!" she called. He was beside her in moments pushing her hands aside so he could see, "Anders, get him out of here, you can heal him."

Anders looked up at her solemnly "Elissa..." he started gently. The ground started to shake beneath her feet,

"It's not over!" Oghren declared, getting back into a fighting stance.

"Please Anders," Elissa practically begged. Anders searched her eyes, asking her to see reason. Alistair had little chance of making it and he didn't want to leave her here without him. Seeing the expression on her face he knew her mind was made up. Anders and Nathaniel quickly grabbed an arm each and lifted Alistair, moving as fast as they could they made for the surface.

The shaking intensified as Elissa stepped next to Oghren just as an Ogre burst it's way through the centre tunnel. Oghren saw Elissa close her eyes for a fraction of a second before using the Berserker technique he'd shown her. He'd only seen her do this a few times and was ashamed to admit that it had scared the piss out of him every time. A duel wielding warrior was rare enough but a duel wielding berserker was practically unheard of. He could barely keep up as she poured all the grief she was feeling into herself and turned it to pure rage and charged the Ogre, throwing all her weight and strength behind every swing. Oghren joined her and between them they whittled the Ogres strength down until it dropped to one knee. Elissa leapt, bringing her sword down firmly into the monsters skull, killing it.

Oghren bent over, hands on knees breathing hard.

"They must have mined into an old deep road tunnel," he said between gasps, "that's the only way so many damn darkspawn were here. We need to seal it off. I saw some boulders and pulleys back the way we came, we can use them to seal it on our way out" Elissa stood silent and immobile while Oghren quickly grabbed a few things from the fallen darkspawn which now littered the floor of then mine the followed him back through the tunnels until they reached the spot he'd noticed. Swinging his axe he cut the rope that held the boulders and rocks in a net on the ceiling. They fell, closing the mine off.

"It'll do for now." he muttered. Elissa silently lead the way back out.


	9. Chapter 9

Elissa stood in the entrance to the mine. She could see Anders kneeling on the grass a few yards away working on Alistair's prone form. She was afraid. Genuinely afraid. Until she found out for herself he was neither alive nor dead but somewhere in between. Safe. As long as she stayed right here he wasn't dead. Oghren gave her the push she needed, literally and figuratively. Putting a firm hand on the small of her back he steered her towards the others. They came to stand together behind Anders. Not wanting to break his concentration Elissa bit her tongue and watched. Alistair's destroyed armour had been discarded and thrown carelessly onto the grass in Anders haste to get to the wound and Anders own armour was splashed in blood, the feather pauldrons of his robes tacky with it.

After what felt like an age Anders stepped away. The wound thankfully sealed and bandaged over. Turning to Elissa he said, "I've done all I can, he still lives. The sword missed his heart by inches and he's lost a lot of blood." he looked down at the ground, "I'm sorry, but it's in The Makers hands now."

Swallowing the lump in her throat she silently put her arms around Anders neck, after his moment of surprise he put his arms around her back and heard her whisper "Thank you." in his ear.

"Well, erm yes." he said once she released him, clearly embarrassed, "we need to get him back to the village. If we can get a room at the inn that would be best, he's going to need time to recover, you know if he..." his words trailed off. They all knew what he meant. Anders had already sent Nathaniel to the nearest farm to try and get a cart for them, if they tried to carry him they might end up opening the wound again, he'd explained. It didn't take long for Nathaniel to return and together they gently lifted Alistair onto the cart. Elissa sat in the back with him, resting his head on her lap. She could hear Nathaniel and Anders talking up front,

"What'll happen if they wont give us rooms at the inn?" Nathaniel asked, "we're all covered in blood, guts and the Maker knows what else, they're not gonna be happy when we come strolling in."

"They had better not turn us away," Anders responded, "half the village worked in that mine, they haven't been able to work in weeks. One of ours got hurt opening it up for them again, they'll see that."

"And if not my axe can be pretty persuasive." Oghren finished for him.

It turned out that Oghren didn't need to use his axe, he almost seemed disappointed. The inn keeper recognised them from the night before and ushered them straight in through a side door and up the stairs. He had three rooms he could let them have, they were basic rooms but after sleeping in the forest for a week they seemed almost luxurious. Getting Alistair up the stairs was no easy task but they managed between them, as soon as they'd got him onto a bed Anders excused himself. He was exhausted after trying to save Alistair's life and needed to sleep, Elissa let him go with another nod of thanks and went back down to the bar to sort out their bill.

The inn keeper was a man named Ox and was big enough not to need to explain the nickname. They agreed a price but Ox was willing to give them a hefty discount in exchange for the recipe for Oghren's home brew. Mmm, Elissa thought, we'll see about that. Oghren's home brew recipe was a closely guarded secret, even she didn't know it. That was something to be tackled later, there were more pressing issues at the moment. She thanked Ox and left a few coins behind the bar to pay for Oghren's first few tankards of ale and went back up to the rooms to change. She popped her head into Alistair's room on her way past and was relieved to see Nathaniel reading in a chair by the bed.

"Go on Commander," he said quietly, "Everything's fine." She smiled tiredly at him and gently closed the door behind her, her room was a few door down. After a wash and change of clothes she knew she'd feel at least slightly more human.

But as soon as she was alone in her room she looked down at her hands, still stained with Alistair's blood and started to shake. Glancing in the mirror she saw her face was half covered in red too. How had he lost so much blood? She scrubbed at her face with her palms, the dried blood flaking away beneath her fingers. Her eyes were stinging with unshed tears as she filled a basin with cool water from a jug someone had thoughtfully left for her. The water quickly turned red as she washed. Elissa stood mesmerised by the red blending into the clear water and thought of all the blood she'd had to wash away over the years, from her hands and her soul. Her parents, everyone who had lived in her childhood home, Duncan, King Calin and the faceless wardens that had died at their side, Riordan, Amaranthine, so many names. She snatched the jug off the table and with a yell threw it at the wall, shattering the porcelain into a thousand tiny pieces. Breathing hard she stood in the silence, mourning them and allowed the tears to fall.

"Damn!" She'd cut her fingers again, why on earth did it have to be a porcelain jug? Elissa thought as she picked up the last few fragments. Her fingers were bleeding from several small cuts. There was no way she was going to disturb Anders with a just a few little cuts, plus, she thought ruefully, then I'd have to explain my little temper tantrum and why I'd taken it out on the furniture. She wasn't looking forward to telling Ox to add it to the bill, she was hoping no one else would need to know. She had a few spare bandages in her bag so clumsily wrapped her fingers in those before leaving her room to relieve Nate from watching Alistair. He probably needed some rest too.

She knocked gently on the door before popping her head around and giving Nathaniel a small tired smile,

"How's he doing?" She asked,

"No change," He replied stretching, "I'd have shouted you if there had been. Go ahead and rest Commander, I'm fine here."

She shook her head and entered the room, "It's fine, thanks Nate. I'll stay with him for awhile, go get something to eat." He nodded and stood from the chair, offering it to her.

"If you insist. I guess I could go keep Oghren company in the bar. You know how he hates to drink alone," he said with a chuckle, "I'll send some food up for you Commander" she caught his arm as he went to pass her out the door,

"Elissa. We're keeping a low profile remember, Elissa is fine." He looked down at her hand, raised an eyebrow at the bandages but chose not to say anything, praise the Maker, and just nodded before leaving the room.

Elissa took the chair next to the bed. Alistair looked pale and drawn, well he's bound to be Elissa decided, Anders had said he wasn't out of the woods yet, but he was breathing normally as far as she could tell and when she reached out a hand to touch his arm he didn't seem unusually warm. With the blankets pulled up over his broad chest he could just be sleeping normally. The room was comfortable enough, clean sheets, a large window and what looked like a home-made rug covering the floor boards under the bed. Sinking low in the chair she let her mind go blank just listening to Alistair's breathing. She'd been sat like that for awhile when Anders came by. He'd come equipped with small bandages and herbs in one hand and a tray with a bowl and bread in the other. so she knew Nathaniel must have had words.

"Hmm," she frowned at him, "Someone's been telling tales" She'd attempted a light tone but it fell flat. Anders pretended not to notice and tried his best to keep the mood up.

"Yes, because I don't have enough to do. You're such a slave driver." He knelt down next to her and held a hand out, Elissa huffed back and gave him her hands as he tutted over her poor excuse at fixing them herself. He had them cleaned and dressed properly in no time then put the tray in her lap before tending to Alistair. Elissa was suddenly ravenous, she hadn't eaten anything that day aside from a hasty breakfast at dawn and demolished the stew and bread before Anders could finish changing Alistair's dressing.

"I think he'll be OK," he said standing straight, "He's just sleeping, it'll be a few days before he wakes up though and he might struggle with his shield arm for a few days more but with a bit of luck he'll make a full recovery." Elissa nodded and swallowed the last of her meal, Anders took the tray from her and said, "Sleep, I'll see you in the morning" before leaving the room.

Three days later and Alistair still hadn't woken up. Elissa and the others had done every job that had appeared on the Charters board, even the small errands that took them running around the small village and surrounding area. Elissa always made sure someone stayed at the inn with Alistair though and had taken every night shift herself. She couldn't sleep anyway. Anders had threatened her with a sleeping draught once or twice but she knew he'd never try and slip her something, though the offer was there if she wanted it. Ox had put them in touch with the merchants guild too so they'd done a few jobs for them, mostly taking out bandits that had been attacking caravans. So that by the evening of the third day they'd got enough gold together, even after paying the bill at the inn to cover new armour and stock up on the essentials. Now they were just waiting for Alistair.

The evening of that third day Elissa was once more watching over Alistair. She'd seen the others downstairs in the bar earlier, Oghren was drinking up a storm as usual but she trusted Nathaniel and Anders to keep him out of trouble. Oghren and Ox seemed to be getting along though, which was a relief. Oghren had a tendency to rub people up the wrong way with his brashness and vulgarity but the large man had found him funny from the start, of course the large amount that Oghren was spending on ale probably helped. They had invited her to join them, the same as they had done every evening of their stay, by now they were used to her refusal and didn't take it personally. Oghren gave her a shrewd look, the dwarf saw more than she wanted him to and she knew she could expect one of his special talks in the not-to-distant future. They had developed an unusual and unlikely friendship that was mainly based on mutual respect, she had no fear that he would talk to her where they could be overheard. Back in Alistair's room she settled herself back in her comfy chair next to the bed and picked up the book she'd been reading, some utter nonsense story about Griffins. It didn't really matter, it was just something to occupy her mind so she didn't think too much about why Alistair hadn't woken up yet and how much longer this was going to go on. As the room darkened around her and the voices from downstairs quietened her head started to feel heavy, eventually abandoning her book she tried to sleep. No matter how she slouched though she couldn't get comfortable. Glancing towards the door and really hoping anyone that came by would knock before coming in, she budged her chair closer to the bed, wrapped her fingers around Alistair's and rested her head on the side of the bed to sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Alistair woke up in a strange bed, very early in the morning if the light coming in the window was any evidence. Glancing around the room he didn't see anything he recognised and had no clue how he'd gotten there. He was feeling rather groggy though and was incredibly thirsty so for the first few moments he'd completely forgotten about their hunt for corrupt Templars and thought he'd just had a few tankards too many and this was just the next inn he'd found. That was until he went to sit up and felt an extra weight on the bed next to his legs and looked down to see the small woman fast sleep with her head resting on top of the bed and felt her small but calloused fingers tucked into his hand. Her long dark hair was fanned across her face but he knew immediately who she was and Alistair remembered what had happened. Taking his free hand he felt under the sheets, yep, there were the bandages, wonderful. But, he thought, Lissa's here so at least it had an upside. He also wasn't in too much pain, upside number two. Gently removing his hand from her loose grasp he carefully brushed her hair off her face and she blinked her eyes open and he froze. Shit, Alisatir thought, I've woken her up! Shit! In a brief moment of almost panic he considered pretending to still be asleep but it was too late for that when she looked up at him the exact second he realised he was still touching her face.

"Erm, hey." he said, grinning guiltily at her, Oh well done Alistair, he thought, very eloquent. She didn't seem to mind though as she reached a hand up to him, for a moment Alistair thought she was going to cup his face back...until she hit him.

"Hey!" He said again, "Hey! Ow! That hurts, you remember I bruise easily right?" She hit him again.

"Never. Do. That. Again!" She shouted, hitting him to punctuate every word. He threw his hands up in surrender but then stupidly asked,

"What? The touching you part or the nearly getting impaled part?" That earned him another slap on the arm,

"The getting impaled part! What were you thinking?! Bloody fool! Of all the chauvinistic, thick skulled-" the bang of the door flying open cut her off as Oghren, Nathaniel and Anders burst into the room in their sleeping clothes all brandishing weapons. A moment of silence passed as the three new comers took in the scene of Elissa standing over the bed red faced and Alistair trying his best to look ashamed while obviously fighting the urge to laugh before Oghren started to chuckle. Elissa shot him a look so cold he immediately shut up. Nathaniel quickly ushered him out the door with a quick,

"We'll leave you to it." Anders looked like he wanted nothing more than to escape with them but as the resident healer of their little band he needed to check on Alistair now he was awake and hovered in the open doorway.

"It's fine, I'm going anyway," Elissa said before marching out the door.

Alistair finally lost the battle with his smile and laughed quietly to himself at the sound of her boots marching down the stairs. Anders smiled with him and approached the bed.

"How're you feeling?" he asked,

"Aside from being assaulted I'm fine." Alisatir replied. He played the good patient while Anders checked him over and swapped the bandages for new ones.

When he was finished Alisatir said,

"Well this is sufficiently awkward. How about I just say thanks for putting me back together and we never talk about it again? Sound good?"

Anders just laughed, "Deal," he guessed Alistair was alright, for a Templar.

"Good. Can you help me up? I've got the feeling I might have been here too long as it is." Anders slid an arm around his back and helped him to his feet, he gave him a moment to steady himself before standing back a little, arms still held out in case Alistair's legs should suddenly decide they didn't want to hold him up. He seemed steady enough though.

"You've been out for three days," Anders told him, "and you lost a lot of blood. Hopefully your shoulder should be OK in the long run but its going to be stiff at first, probably painful at times too but I can give you something for that. Funny thing about swords, they tend to do quite a lot of damage when they're forced through your body. Maybe try not doing that again for awhile."

"Thanks," Alistair grinned, "I'll take it under advisement." He tensed suddenly, looking around again almost frantically, "My sword? My shield? Are they still in the mine?"

"We've got them, don't worry." Anders could see the relief in the slump of Alistair's shoulders.

"Thank you again," he said, "Sentimental attachment."

"Actually, it was Oghren that saved them. So it's him you need to thank." Well that was a surprise, he never would have guessed Oghren would think to grab them. Anders had seen warriors become attached to weapons before but Alistair's reaction was more than that, there was something else there, he was sure but it would wait for another time.

"Feel like trying to tackle the stairs? You must be hungry and thirsty?" Alistair nodded his approval, he really didn't feel too bad. He had a bit of a struggle trying to pull a tunic on over his injuries but it wasn't as bad as it had been after Denerim. Maybe if he'd known Anders then it wouldn't have taken so bloody long to heal, he thought. He did listen to Anders and take his time on the stairs though, he didn't particularly feel like falling on his ass into the bar. It was almost mid-morning by then so the bar was starting it's day, glancing around he spotted Oghren and Nathaniel at a table in a corner.

"Didn't think you'd be up and about yet," Nathaniel greeted him, "Welcome back to the land of the living." he raised his tankard in a semi-toast, "and before you ask, she's out. Had to take a walk she said, shouldn't be too long." Anders waved over the inn to a huge man behind the bar. A serving girl was quickly sent over to take their order. Once she'd left Alistair turned to Oghren,

"I hear it's you I've got to thank for saving my sword and shield from the mine?"

"Bah, don't go getting all sentimental on me boy, I just thought they might be worth sommat, that's all."

Alistair didn't buy it for a second but allowed Oghren to save face in front of the others,

"Drunken oaf." he grinned,

"Nug-licker." Oghren mumbled back.

They passed the morning pleasantly enough over food and ale, water for Alistair, and when they'd run out of small talk someone produced a pack of cards and they played a few friendly hands of wicked grace. Nathaniel was still trying to figure out Elissa trick but neither Oghren or Alistair admitted to knowing her technique. Alistair was distracted though and kept shooting looks at the door whenever he thought the others wouldn't notice. After perhaps the twelfth time Oghren finally growled,

"Stop watching the damn pot lad. She'll boil when she's good and ready." Not quite as subtle as he thought then. It was only seconds later when the door opened and Elissa came through, she walked over to their table and without a word dumped a pile of armour of the table with a clang, sending tankards spilling to the floor, she went to continue walking straight past them when Oghren called out,

"Oi! Where's mine?" She turned at the bottom of the stairs and tossed him a flask of some clear looking spirit before continuing, "Cheers darlin'" he hollerred after her. She just acknowledged him with a wave over her shoulder and kept going. Alistair knew she wasn't seriously angry with him, not really. He'd seen her angry, this was mostly bravado but he was a little disappointed by her refusal to acknowledge him nevertheless. He was halfway out of is chair to go after her when Oghren said,

"Stay right there. If you go chasing after her now she's only gonna get more annoyed, let it burn out. A few hours and she'll have calmed down," when Alistair looked hesitant Oghren continued, "I've had enough women angry at me over the years, I know what I'm talking about." Deciding that Oghren was probably right Alistair sat back down and dealt the cards while Anders and Nathaniel shifted the armour on to the floor.

So it was late afternoon before Alistair saw Elissa again. He went upstairs with a peace offering of food and knocked on her door. He heard her shout "Come in" but couldn't resist asking,

"You're not going to start hitting me again are you?" her heard her mumbling and swearing to herself so with a smile he let him self in, she was stood before the window, arms crossed and leaning into one hip in her usual 'I'm pissed' pose, Alistair held the tray out with a small flourish and said,

"You wouldn't beat a man who brought you food would you?" she seemed to consider for a moment before saying,

"It depends. Is there chocolate on that tray?" when he said there was she unfolded her arms and said "then you're safe. I'm not a monster." He smiled and faked relief, putting the tray down on a small table then, to her surprise, took the other chair and made himself comfortable. She rolled her eyes but sat down and picked up a sandwich from the tray he'd brought. He let her eat in silence for a few minutes before asking seriously,

"You OK?"

"Yep," She replied shortly around a mouthful of sandwich.

He raised an eyebrow at her an said,

"Uh huh. Sure. So what was that about this morning then?" Elissa just frowned, avoided eye contact and shrugged. She was aware she looked like a petulant child but right then she didn't seem to able to stop herself.

"Lissa...please, talk to me" Alistair said.

Fine. She sighed, pushing the tray to one side and stretched her arms out a little to rest her hands on the table.

"How much blood do you think stains my hands?" She asked, "I don't just mean the lives I've taken with the edge of a sword, I only kill people that leave me no choice. I'm talking about the people I haven't saved, not the ones I've killed." Alistair tried to interrupt her but her eyes shot up, "You asked, I'm telling you." She waited for him to nod before looking back at her hands and continuing. "I'm the Arl of Amaranthine, did you you know that? It's mostly title only, I'm aware of that, I have fair cleverer people than me that run most thing but one thing I have that they don't is a list. A list I was sent after the clear up was started in the city. It's a list of every man, woman and child that was slaughtered in the city of Amaranthine. It's a pretty long list. I'd taken Sigrun, Nathaniel and Oghren with me to head off a large band of darkspawn that were seen heading for the city but by the time we got there the city was overrun. The city guard that were left were trying to finish off stragglers around the gates but they were barely making a dent. I gathered them together and we were about to launch an assault when we got a message, an army of darkspawn were marching on Vigils Keep. So I was left with a choice, I could stay, purge the city of darkspawn, claim back the jewel of the Arling or I could go back and defend the Keep. It was one of the toughest decisions I've made in my life and Maker willing I'll never have to make another one like it again but a decision had to be made. I chose the Keep. I burned the city to the ground and walked away. There were survivors in there Alistair, I know in my heart there were people still in there but I burned it to the ground to prevent the darkspawn there joining the army at Vigils Keep. Another casualty of war" She added bitterly. "There are hundreds of names on that list and I have no idea how many of them are dead because I chose not to act, to walk away. Is it possible the Keep's defences could have held up long enough for me to have cleared the city before heading back? I'll never know. Sigrun all but begged me to stay and help the city. But if the Keep had fallen how long would the city stand? Another question I'll never know the answer to. But do you want to know which question haunts me more than any other? There's a little voice in the back of my head that wonders if I only went back to save my friends. You want to know why I don't want anyone else to die with or for me? Because that voice wonders if I sacrificed a city because I didn't want to lose another family." She looked up at him, "And do you know what else?" He shook his head, "I don't know the answer to that one either."


	11. Chapter 11

Alistair didn't sleep well that night, he'd like to pretend it was because he'd just spent three days sleeping but he knew he'd be lying to himself. Whenever he closed his eyes all he could think about was the look on Elissa's face when she told him she'd left a city do die. He could have told her that he thought she'd made the right choice or that he'd have done the same thing in her position but she wouldn't have believed him. She'd needed time to heal and he'd come along and thrown another mess at her. It wasn't his fault but he felt guilty nevertheless.

After their talk they ended up having a good evening, he'd steered the conversation onto more pleasant topics and was pleased with himself every time he'd made her smile. They'd joined the others in the bar for supper and they'd all had a few drinks before deciding their next step. Elissa had wanted to stay in the village for a few more days to give Alistair more time to heal but the others were eager to get back on the road. Alistair had eventually talked her into moving on by explaining that this far north the roads were still fairly quiet so unless they went looking for trouble they were unlikely to get into any bother. He'd also promised that if anything did happen he'd stay back and 'avoid heroics'. She'd agreed in the end but only under the condition that they'd set off very early every morning and make camp early so they could use their evenings to train until she was happy that his shoulder and chest weren't going to effect his ability to fight. Alistair had agreed eagerly to her conditions, it had been a long time since they'd practised against each other. So with this being the plan he'd only managed to catch an hour of sleep here and there before it was time to get going. Ox met them in the bar to say goodbye and settle the bill, hands were shook all round and with a wave and a "take care" they set off into the pre-dawn.

Elissa kept them at a leisurely pace that day and Alistair had noticed her check him a couple of times for signs of pain or tiredness. He'd been slightly concerned about the added weight of the new armour but his worries were groundless. It was of excellent quality and although it was heavier than the leather and plate he'd grown accustomed to it had a thick layer of wool padding that cushioned the metal against his wounds. It also had a sturdy harness that helped distribute the weight evenly so it wasn't resting solely on his shoulders so he was still feeling pretty good when Elissa called it a day, despite his lack of sleep. The tents were set up and the firewood collected in no time. They'd bought food in the village so Nathaniel could take a night or two more off before resuming his usual hunting and pretty soon bets were being made as to the outcome of Alistair's and Elissa's training.

"I've got thirty silvers that says the kid's on his arse within a minute." Oghren started the ball rolling.

"I don't know," Nathaniel joined in, "He's got almost a foot height advantage plus the Maker knows how much in weight."

"Hey!" Alistair objected, "Did you just call me fat?"

"I think he did," Elissa shouted over to them from next to her tent, "But we all know size isn't everything!" The men all stopped what they were doing and looked over at her, "Oh for the love of -I didn't mean it like that! I just meant look how strong the dwarfs are compared to most humans."

"That's right!" Oghren declared, "I'd like to see some of you swing my axe around!"

"So your golds on Alistair, Nathaniel?" Anders asked, "I'm gonna go with Elissa for the win but it's going to be closer than Oghren thinks."

With the bets settled Oghren, Anders and Nathaniel sat around the fire while Alistair and Elissa moved a short distance away.

"There's still time to back out Lissa." Alistair said, loud enough for the others to hear. Trash talk was all part of the game after all.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she shot straight back at him, "We've got to make sure your little boo-boo's all better now don't we?"

"Fine, have it your way, I'll take it easy on you. Wouldn't want the others to lose respect for their Commander when she gets her ass handed to her by a cripple."

Her eyes glittered dangerously up at him, he may have pushed it a tad too far. They circled each other slowly for a moment, Elissa with a blunted long sword in each hand and Alistair with one blunted sword of his own and wooden shield. She had an unusual style true, but he'd seen her in action hundreds of times and was pretty sure he could predict her attacks. Being of a lighter frame she was faster and more graceful than he was but didn't have the power he had. Her style was more of a rogue-warrior hybrid. Not quite as fast as a rogue and not quite as strong as your standard warrior but she married the two together in a style that worked perfectly for her. Adapting to your own limits was something that not many warriors could do so she'd managed to surprise many opponents and used that to her advantage.

She knew she couldn't rely on the element of surprise this time though, Alistair knew most of her techniques, she had, however, picked up one or two new tricks since they had last trained in this way. She would have to use her superior speed, one knock back from his shield followed up with a good swing of his sword and this could be over very quickly.

Elissa launched the first attack, feigning an swipe at his right shoulder before bending under his sword, swinging around his back to try and get under his shield, he saw where she was going though and brought his shield back so she had to slam on the brakes to avoid running straight into it. She went low instead in an attempt to take out his knees forcing him to jump out of the way, he turned quickly hoping to take advantage of her low centre of gravity and knock her down but he didn't quite reach and she shoved herself onto her back foot allowing his shield to miss her by centimetres. She grinned, spinning her swords around in her fists and they circled each other again. Not wanting to give her the advantage of first attack again Alistair brought his sword up high before she was expecting it, he waited for her to react before quickly dropping his arm and turning it into an upward swipe instead, Elissa was forced to turn into him to avoid it which meant turning her back on him, Alistair took advantage and pushed forward with his shield, catching her in the centre of her back. But Elissa was nothing if not adaptable and used the momentum of his shove to roll forward on her her shoulder and pop back onto the balls of her feet, gaining some distance. Nathaniel cheered from over by the fire, warning Oghren that the money was as good as his.

She went right this time, bringing her sword up to shoulder height, Alistair blocked the attack with his own sword, she was counting on this though and brought her left sword up under his right arm and connected under the elbow, knocking him off balance. She was too close to him for him to use his shield effectively and if he didn't do something fast it was going to be over, so he did the only thing he could think of,

"Maker, you are gorgeous when you fight" he whispered in her ear. He almost laughed at the look on her face and she completely froze. Using her pause he turned his sword and pushed the pommel into her ribs. Elissa staggered a little to the left but managed to catch herself just as she saw him bring his shield up, forced to duck under it she brought both her swords around together in a low arc, hitting Alistair behind both knees, she followed up by shoving him with her shoulder and sending him toppling to the ground on his back. Elissa stood over him breathing hard,

"Yield?" She asked. He nodded and she reached a hand down to help him up. He grabbed her hand, pulled and kicked her foot out from under her at the same time, bringing her down onto the grass next to him.

"Yield." He said with a laugh.

"You cheated." she muttered.

"Only a bit." Alistair said, still laughing. He was still grinning when they joined the others, just in time to see Anders collect his winnings.

They were making good time along the Imperial Highway and it was only a few days later when they started to make their way south. This meant that they had to be more careful though as they would start to see more people and settlements. The Bannorn made for good farmland owing to the fact that it was mostly flat so it quite well populated. They could still avoid the larger towns though and now they were past Highever Elissa wasn't quite as worried about being recognised.

Elissa was sat in her under armour when the others joined her that morning. She was taking any advantage she could get to be in her lighter clothing, once they got to the Frostback mountains it was going to get very cold, especially at night. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear them approach at first. Anders brought her out if her revere,

"Penny for them?" He asked.

"Yeah." She said seriously, "I have an idea but you're not going to like it." She pulled her map out and spread it out of the floor in front of them, pointing at a spot just south of West Hill.

"We're here. In the next few days we'll be going around Lake Calenhad and joining Gherlen's pass." She took a breath, they really weren't going to like this, especially Anders. "But before we do that I think so should go to The Circle Tower." As she predicted there was a small outcry from everyone except Nathaniel. Nate didn't really see the big deal, but he'd never been to a Circle, Elissa reminded herself. She held up her hands and the others quietened down, "I know, I know. It's a risk. Even if nothing is happening at Ferelden tower they know us there, if just one corrupt Templar spots us he could figure out what we're doing and warn the others. There's all sorts of things that could go wrong. But the bottom line is that we don't know where Halamshiral tower is. We could wander around there for weeks and never find it. The First Enchanter will at least have a rough idea where we should be looking, he might even be able to mark it on the map for us. Also, we have friends here. Enchanter Irving, Wynne and Knight-Commander Greagoir. I know Greagoir is strict with the mages but I honestly don't believe he'd do anything like this. If he's still in charge then we can be safe in the knowledge that the Ferelden circle is safe, at least for the time being." They all seemed to think about it for a moment. Alistair spoke up first,

"So lets say we do this, we need to get into a tower sat in the middle of a lake without being spotted. How exactly do you plan on doing that?" Elissa shifted her eyes to Anders.

"Oh no!" he said, "No, don't you look at me like that!" She smiled sweetly up at him, "Stop it! That doesn't work on me!" She stretched her smile even further, "Bloody devil woman! You're evil you know? Yes, yes, I escaped the circle. I know how to get in. Someone grab me something to draw with."


	12. Chapter 12

Anders managed to draw them a pretty detailed plan of the circle and surrounding areas and included any entrances he could think of.

"There are four hidden tunnels to the tower. Unfortunately, as far as I know, only one of them is accessible. These two," he pointed to them on the map, "are sealed permanently. One was sealed after I used it in one of my escapes and the others been sealed for decades. This one is impossible, it's entrance is now at the bottom of the lake. Which leaves us with tunnel number four. The last time I was there I did some digging around in the archives, it was built so the Templars had an escape route if they ever needed it."

"So why didn't they use it when the blood mages attacked during the blight?" Alistair asked.

"It's the oldest tunnel, added not long after the circle it's self was built, I doubt many people even know it exists, I only found it by accident. It starts in the woods, around half a mile behind The Spoiled Princess and lets out in the storage caves. Getting in this end shouldn't be a problem but at the other end there's going to be enchanted locks as well as **actual** locks and a pair of doors big enough and strong enough to withstand a hurricane. The storage caves are where the most dangerous equipment is kept so very few mages have access. If we can get by that however this would let us straight onto the second floor which is where the Senior Enchanters office is. So on the bright side less Templars to try and get past. If we go in at night most Templars should be in their quarters, that's on level four and there's a curfew on apprentice mages so there shouldn't be too many people in the halls," he shrugged, "we might get lucky."

Oghren snorted, "Since when are we ever lucky?"

Elissa patted him on the shoulder as she stood up. "Well done Anders. This is good. We can be in and out before anyone even notices us."

"So we're actually doing this then?" Anders asked, looking around the group.

Elissa winked at him, "It's your plan Anders, you can't back out now."

So it was two nights later when they stood grouped around a trap door in the woods. Nathaniel's keen eyes had spotted it, the others could have walked right by it and never have known. It wasn't particularly well hidden, just very old. Looking at the rusty hinges it hadn't been used in quite some time.

"I can't believe I'm actually breaking IN to the circle," Anders complained, "Why did I agree to this again?"

"Because you can't say no to a pretty woman that smiles at you." Nathaniel said, the others laughed as he squatted down to pick the lock on the trap door. It only took a few seconds before he threw the door back and they looked down into the pitch black tunnel. Anders conjured a wisp which bobbed happily around his head before he sent it down to light the path for them. Nathaniel stood back and allowed Elissa and Alistair to go first. A tight, winding staircase gave way to a fairly wide path, cut directly through the rock and earth. The walked slowly, weapons at the ready just in case.

"Why didn't you use this path when you escaped?" Asked Oghren.

"The door at the other end mostly but there's also rumours of things living in the storage caves, I'm not sure if it's true or just something the Templars started to keep junior mages and apprentices away but I wasn't taking any chances."

"What sort of things?" Oghren asked again, keeping his axe ready.

"Spiders." Said Elissa and Alistair at the same time. It was always spiders. "Just so long as it's not the ones that spit poison," Elissa continued, "I hate those ones" she said just as three poisonous spiders appeared on the path in front of them.

"You just had to say it," Alistair said before charging the closest one.

When they emerged from the tunnel and into the storage caves there was enough light to see by, there were torch brackets every few feet so Anders let the wisp go out with a small wave of his hand and they looked around. It was no wonder no one knew this tunnel existed, Anders realised, it was perfectly blended into the wall, even Nathaniel wouldn't have seen that. They kept going, following the path around until they found themselves in an opening with crates piled all around them and paths leading in all different directions.

"Ah, here we go." He said, taking the one directly in front of them "The door should be just up here." They'd only taken a few steps when they heard the hissing. A dozen giant spiders began to fall from the ceiling, more were pouring up from each path, Elissa looked around them, they were almost surrounded.

"Sod it," she shouted, "Run!" She pushed Anders up the path ahead of her, slashing at a spider that got too close. They slammed into the giant pair of doors, Nathaniel dodging around them to get at the lock. Elissa, Alistair and Oghren formed a semi-circle with Nathaniel and Anders in the centre.

"Alistair," Nathaniel yelled, "Cleanse it!" Alistair quickly used his Templar abilities to cleanse the area, getting rid of any enchanted locks and Nathaniel got to work on the doors. The spiders were advancing on them, Elissa, Oghren and Alistair were hacking and slashing at them but there were too many, the spiders swarmed over each other to get at the five trapped people..

"Nate!" Elissa shouted.

"Give me fifteen seconds!" he shouted back,

"You've got ten!" Elissa span, pushing the closest spiders back,

"Just...about...there! Got it!" Nathaniel yelled in triumph.

"Get down!" Anders warned before summoning a shield in front of himself, using all he had he pushed the shield away, forcing the spiders back as the group dived for the doors, Nathaniel slammed the doors closed behind them and they collapsed, panting on the other side.

"Let's not do that again." Alistair said, "I'm officially adding swarming to swooping in my list of all things bad." Elissa laughed and got to her feet.

"Nate, Anders you guys are awesome!"

They looked around, the lights were dimmed and all was quiet, so far so good. Nathaniel gently opened the door and peered down the hallway. Nothing moved so waving the others forward Anders took the lead and they headed toward Irving's office. He was probably in his chambers asleep, Anders realised, but that probably didn't matter too much. If they could find the location of the tower in Halamshiral then they wouldn't need to disturb the First Enchanter at all. They got to his office door without seeing a soul. It made Anders suspicious, surely they should have seen someone? A lone Templar guard? A mage using the quiet night to work alone in the library? Like Oghren had pointed out, since when do they get this lucky? This screamed trap. He could sense the tension in the others, they were all feeling it. So with his hand paused on the handle to the office he met the eyes of his friends. Their weapons were ready. Elissa nodded and he pushed the door open, clearing it quickly to let the others in behind him, brandishing swords, axes and bows, ready for the fight.

"Now is that really necessary?" Asked First Enchanter Irving from behind his desk.

"The Warden always did have a flare for the dramatic." Said Wynne, stood behind him and smiling at Elissa.

Once they were sat in comfy chairs around the fire Elissa asked,

"So how did you know it was us?"

"Not much happens in this tower that I don't know about my friend." Irving said, "The opening of a trap door behind The Spoiled Princess for example? I placed an enchantment on it a very long time ago, it doesn't prevent it from being opened, obviously or you wouldn't be sat here, but it does alert me whenever it is opened. The enchantment also allows me to sense the aura of the person that passes it. You, my dear, have a rather, erm shall we say unique, aura. Although I must say it is slightly more damaged than the last time we met, yet it is unmistakeable. So I woke Wynne and we created a distraction for the Templars in the basement to allow you through, these walls have seen enough bloodshed over the last few years I believe, there was no need to add to it."

"I did think it was a little too quiet. Thank you." Elissa said,

"You're quite welcome. Now, what could be so important that you'd sneak into the tower in the middle of the night?"

Elissa thought for a moment, she knew The First Enchanter needed to be warned about the other circles and the possibility that the rumours of Templar abuse and lyrium branding were true but how much should she tell him?

"First Enchanter, I've been informed by a reliable source that there is unrest in the Templar order. There have been stories of Templar abuse, and while this in itself is nothing new there seems to be evidence that the Templars are using the Right of Tranquillity as a punishment and worse, that Templars may be experimenting on mages. According to my source the circle in question is in Halamshiral, we came here to warn you of this and to ask if you know where this tower is. You know this matter needs investigating and we cannot trust the Templar order to do this. We also come with a warning to be careful with your own Templars, the seeds of discourse are being spread to alienate the Templars and mages, to spread distrust."

Irving looked thoughtful for a moment before asking,

"Should I bring Knight Commander Greagoir into this conversation?" Elissa glanced around at her companions for their input, they all shrugged or raised an eyebrow at her, leaving the decision in her hands.

"I would ask if you wait until we are gone, if you feel you can trust him then that decision is yours." Irving nodded before continuing,

"Our Templar numbers were greatly depleted due to Uldred and his blood mages so I'll admit, there are a number of new Templars in the tower, however, the young man you rescued near the Harrowing chamber is in charge of all the new recruits."

"Ser Cullen?" Elissa asked, " He seemed terrified of the mages, would be really stop any abuse if he saw it?"

"Ser Cullen had just seen many of his men killed and saw for the first time what can happen to a mage when he or she cannot control that which haunts us all. It would be unfair to judge him on that meeting alone. He has been with us for a very long time and has been sympathetic to mages in the past. He is a strict Templar, however he is fair, and I believe, a good man. I trust he would watch the new recruits for any signs of them abusing their power and report it at once. Now, as for the tower at Halamshiral, I have never been there but I do know it's location. You have a map I trust?" Elissa produced it from her pack and Irving marked a spot on it, south-west of the city it's self. "I cannot advise you on how you'd get into the tower however."

"I was just going to knock and ask nicely," Elissa shrugged, putting the map back into her pack, Irving smiled at her and got to his feet, indicating the conversation was over.

"I don't suggest you try to take leave of the tower tonight my friend, while our distraction has kept the Templars away for now I feel they are almost ready to leave the basement. We have a cleared room you can make use of and I suggest you stay here tonight, Wynne if you could be kind enough to escort our guests out when the Templars change the guards at dawn?"

"As you wish First Enchanter," Said Wynne, bowing slightly. She ushered them quickly from the room and down the hall, opened a door on the left and showing them into spacious sleeping quarters.

"This rooms vacant at the moment, no one will notice you're in here." Said Wynne, holding the door open for them. The others entered but Elissa gently took hold of Wynnes arm,

"We need to talk" she hissed and pulled Wynne behind a statue. She was a little embarrassed now they were alone, she'd always been a little intimidated around the older, wiser woman and felt as though Wynne could see right through her and into her soul. She scuffed her feet a little, unsure of what to say. Wynne just chuckled at her and taking her hands into her own said,

"It's good to see you my friend." Elissa saw Wynnes gentle smile and grinning herself pulled the woman into a soft hug.

"How are you Wynne?" She asked once they'd parted, "Hows the spirit?"

"It still weakens gradually, although it has slowed down somewhat since coming back to the circle," She looked ruefully at Elissa, "Less brushes with death now that I'm not chasing around after you. That being said, if you have need of me you know I will follow you again."

Elissa shook her head, "Thank you for the offer, it means a lot to me but I need a watchman at the tower. I know that should something happen here you'll protect the mages. Keep an eye out for Zevran though, he's my backup should we fail." Wynne nodded, accepting Elissa decision. "But I did want to ask you something, is there anything you can tell me about lyrium branding?"

"Lyrium branding? Now, let me think. Yes, I remember reading somewhere that the Magisters of Tevinter would sometimes brand themselves with lyrium to augment their powers. It gives the mage a direct source of lyrium to draw from making them capable of things that even the most capable mages are unable to do. The process however, is very painful and almost always fatal."

"But why would someone do that to someone else?"

"Why would you be asking about something like that?" Wynnes asked.

"The experiments on mages I mentioned? Lyrium branding is the experiment we've heard about. But it doesn't make any sense. Why would the Templars want to _increase_ a mages power?"

"Why indeed." Wynne looked thoughtful for a moment. "Could they be trying to perfect the technique before applying the branding to other Templars? The chantry gives Templars lyrium dust when they are in training and they often become addicted, perhaps this is a way for them to get constant access for their abilities?"

"Mmm," Elissa said, "Perhaps. I guess we'll find out when we get to Halamshiral." They heard footsteps and voices approaching from down the hall interrupting their conversation.

"Come, we'll talk more in the morning." Wynne gently nudged Elissa in the direction of the bedroom door, "I'll come get you just before dawn, be ready." She whispered before quietly closing the door between them.


	13. Chapter 13

As promised Wynne knocked on the door just as the sky was beginning to lighten the next morning, popping her head around and seeing everyone was ready to go she let herself into the room.

"We've not got long, Irving has called a meeting for all the Templars in the Great Hall upstairs so we should be able to slip straight out without anyone seeing us."

"What about the lake?" Oghren asked, "Dwarfs don't swim."

"Owain, the tranquil who looks after our stockroom, is ready to take you over in the ferry that the Templars use. He's been told a cover story and won't question it, quickly this way."

Wynne led them down the hall and through a staircase hidden behind a large painting that led them almost directly into the entrance hall, checking to make sure all the guards were indeed gone she waved them through to join her before the large double door, Owain was waiting for them in the corner. They pushed the huge doors open and trailed down the steps toward the water. While the others were climbing into the boat Alistair and Elissa said goodbye to Wynne.

"You're still my favourite old lady." Alistair teased, giving Wynne a quick hug, she responded by cuffing him round the head but laughed.

"And you're still young enough for a good spanking every now and then. Take care Alistair."

"Yes ma'am" Alistair gave her a little mock salute and bow before going down to join the others. She turned seriously to Elissa,

"Be careful Warden, I sense dark times ahead."

"I will. You too." She said, giving Wynne another hug. Quietly so the others wouldn't hear Wynne added,

"And take care of that one," she smiled fondly in Alistair's direction, "it's nice to see you too together again."

"We're not together." Elissa objected.

"Hmm, not yet." Wynne smiled softly, "Now get going before I change my mind and get in that boat with you."

With a wave Elissa climbed into the boat between Alistair and Oghren, watching Wynne slowly disappear as they moved slowly across the lake.

"It's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass-nug!" Oghren complained, they'd been steadily walking uphill forever it seemed to him and small patches of snow had started to appear at the side of the road.

"It's only going to get colder sweetheart," Elissa replied, "Especially at night."

"I can think of one way to stay warm at night!" Elissa turned, walking backwards to say with a smile,

"Oghren, you know the world isn't ready for our love." That made him laugh, turning back around she was glad, he hadn't been laughing much lately, in fact he'd be growing steadily grumpier over the last few days, even with her. Elissa could guess it was because they were getting closer and closer to Orzammar, while Oghren had said he was never going back and was happy on the surface she knew it must be bothering him to be so close to his old home. She'd talk to him the next time they made camp she decided. There was still a few hours of daylight left though so she kept pushing the group on.

They were getting towards the beginning of Gherlen's pass, the road that would take them through the Frostback mountains. It marked a huge milestone in their journey but the pass itself was quite dangerous. Most people and traders used boats, going along the coast of the Waking sea to avoid the mountains so the road wasn't very well travelled. It was very steep with frequent landslides, perilous drops and some of the areas most dangerous predators. There were also no settlements, none at all so once they started there was nowhere to stop and stock up on supplies until they were through and out the other side. Elissa would have liked to find a town before starting if possible, she knew Anders was running low on herbs and some food would be a good idea too since hunting would be more difficult. Especially with the threat of the wolves and bears that called the mountains home. She didn't know the area well though and knowing that the others would suggest Orzammar she kept the thought to herself for now.

"Hey," Elissa said, dropping down to sit next to Oghren with a wince. She was still feeling the bumps and bruises from her latest training with Alistair, his shoulder and chest were pretty much completely healed by now but they'd been enjoying their new training regime so decided to keep at it, action had been fairly thin on the ground lately and it never hurt to keep your skills sharp.

"You OK?" She asked.

"Oh aye, just great." Oghren grumbled back, swigging from a flask.

"I see, so the whole sullen, grumpy silent thing is the new you is it? No offence my love but we already have one of those and Nate does it better than you," Elissa said with a wink, taking his flask and helping herself to a sip.

"Humph," Oghren grunted at her, snatching his flask back, "How come every woman I meet is a nagging know it all?"

"We just can't resist you Oghren, you know that." She bumped her shoulder into his and waited for him to talk,

"I don't know princess," he said after a moment, "I don't want to go back to Orzammar, I told you that and it's still true. They treated me worse than deepstalker droppings there. You and the others are the only ones to treat me with respect in years, to be fair to them though I didn't really do much to earn their respect either." he let out a sigh, "But it was still my home, as much as they'd consider me a surface dwarf now. I was a noble before marrying Branka, did I ever tell you that? Aye. The noble House Kondrat, doesn't exist any more, it all became the House of Branka after she became a paragon, another thing that blighted woman took from me. She took everything when she left, all I had was what I could get behind the bar at Tapsters. Then I went back to Felsi, that didn't exactly work out either. I messed up being a warrior in Orzammar, I messed up being a husband with Branka, I messed up being a father with Felsi. I guess sometimes I feel like I don't really fit anywhere."

"Oghren," Elissa said seriously, "You're a Grey Warden, you helped stop a blight, defeat an archdemon, find a lost paragon, defend a keep against a darkspawn army and keep me sane. You _have_ to trust me when I say I couldn't have done these things without you. You are one of the finest warriors I have ever met, I'm proud to call you my friend." Elissa shrugged, "You're family." She finished simply.

"Ah, Warden, don't go all soft on me." He muttered, but she could the blush through his beard and knew she'd gotten through to him.

"Besides," she said, grabbing his flask, "You provide the ale." He laughed, breaking the tension and allowed her to take a swig. They sat in silence for a few moments, watching the others preparing food or sharpening their blades, passing the flask back and forth.

"Can I give you some advice for a change sweetheart?" He asked.

"I'm all ears."

"Know when to let some things go, I couldn't let Branka go and look what happened. Some times you get a second chance at things, I messed up my second chance with Felsi. I wouldn't want to see you do the same thing." He gave Alistair a pointed look, Elissa opened her mouth to protest but Oghren held his hands up. "That's all I'm gonna say."

Oghren's mood was much improved the next day though, much to Elissa relief. He even pointed them in the direction of a small dwarven settlement a little further up the mountain.

"It's not on any map," He'd said, "Not much there to be honest. It's surface dwarfs that can't accept they're not going back to Orzammar, outcasts mostly. Might be worth a stop before he hit Gherlen's pass though."

"Great idea Oghren." Elissa smiled brightly at him.

"I only said it might be worth a stop, that's all. Its down a hidden path near some caves, I'll let you know when we get there."

These dwarfs were definitely in denial, Elissa thought, looking around. Most of them had built homes in caves or even made their own caves by breaking away rock in the cliffs, she knew this was because they didn't like the open sky over their heads. Oghren had taken some time getting used to it too but nothing like this. There were a few stalls dotted around but most of the dwarfs that were out in the open kept looking up as though they expected the sky to fall on them at any moment.

"Wow," said Alistair, quietly beside her, "and we thought the ones in Orzammar were crazy."

"Yeah," Elissa replied, "Lets not stay too long."

"Probably for the best," he grinned, "If we hang around they're bound to find us some task to do, slay some giant haunted bear or something."

There were a few buildings, built by braver dwarfs she assumed, including an inn called The Low Ceiling so at least they'd be able to buy some food. They headed there first. The inn lived up to it's name, they had to bend over once they were inside to avoid hitting their heads. Elissa wasn't too bad but Alistair, Anders and Nathaniel had to stoop over as they made their way to the bar. They had a good selection though so soon their packs were heavy again with supplies and food. Elissa left Oghren to flirt with a barmaid and ordered drinks for them before moving to a table near a fireplace, may as well get warm while we can, she thought.

Oghren joined them a few minutes later, "Thanks darlin'," he waved his tankard at Elissa, "Worked the old Oghren charm on that girl over there, said we need to speak to a dwarf in a cave on the left, says we'll know him when we see him. He'll be able to sell us some wolf pelts, cloaks, that sorta thing."

"How will we know him?" Nathaniel asked, "Did she say?"

Oghren shook his head, "No, but she did say most of the folk around here don't trust humans yet, so best let me do the talking kiddo."

"Maker help us," Nathaniel muttered behind his drink.

The bar maid wasn't kidding, Elissa thought, they weren't going to think this was someone else. She and the others stood at a distance watching Oghren talk to a dwarf covered head to toe in wolf pelts, he even had a wolf head sat on top of his own and wolf teeth braided into his beard. They were keeping their distance from the nervous dwarfs but some of the braver ones were staring unashamedly at the four humans in their midst.

"That guy is dressed as the worlds first bearded wolf and we're the ones getting the funny look?" Alistair whispered in her ear.

He'd placed his hand on the small of her back when he bent down to talk to her and Elissa felt goosebumps spread up from that spot all the way up to her neck. Damn Oghren and Wynne, she thought, they've put these stupid ideas in my head and I can't get rid of them. She laughed to hide her embarrassment and just hoped Alistair hadn't noticed. They watched as Oghren came trudging back to them, weighed down by a large bundle that half obscured his face, dropping the package at his feet he said,

"That should be everything we need. Apparently no one's come past this place in weeks so we're probably not going to see anyone once we're on the pass but apparently there are bandits from time to time that we should watch out for." He glanced around again, taking in the mistrustful looks of the villagers, "By the stone, I wasn't like this was I?"

He'd said it in a joke but Elissa knew there was genuine self-consciousness behind the question, "No," she answered truthfully, looking around herself, "No, you were nothing like this Oghren."

"Let's get out of here." He picked the bundle up again and led them out of the village.


	14. Chapter 14

"You know, I'm starting to look back fondly on that Dwarvan sailor," Alistair said wistfully as they edged around yet another giant boulder blocking the path, "No bandits, no snow, no perilous drop into the abyss, good times."

"What and miss all the fun of camping in the snow?" Elissa joked back at him, "The trip wouldn't be the same without it."

He looked back at their other companions, no one was having fun. Freezing cold, tired from marching uphill and covered in wolf pelts that smelled worse by the hour, these things did not add up to happy camping. They were losing moral fast, he was pretty sure Elissa was aware of it too but didn't really know what to do about it. Giving them something to fight usually worked but the bandits that had been stupid or desperate enough to attack them had been few and far between. The wolves and bears were giving them a wide berth too. There was never a dragon around when you needed one.

Alistair glanced up at the sky, it looked like it might snow again later too, great. Just what they needed, packing up wet, snow sodden tents didn't really get the day off to a great start.

"You might want to find a cave for tonight Lissa." Elissa looked up at the grey sky too.

"Yeah, you might be right." She was looking fed up with it all as well, Alistair realised, I'll have to think of something.

The cave they'd found themselves that night luckily held some old dried out branches and leaves, maybe it was a den for a bear or something Alistair thought, no matter it's long abandoned now and this meant they weren't going to freeze to death, always a plus. He collected as much as he could and returned to the others, all still looking as depressed as they had done all afternoon. Elissa was sat slightly apart from the others, staring at her map again. He set the wood up and Anders lit it with a casual wave of his hand. Alistair approached Oghren first,

"Hey, Oghren? Hows the ale supply looking? I don't suppose you've got anything a little stronger stored in that pack of yours?"

"Aye, I've got some spirits tucked away, why you asking?"

"We're going to play a game," Alistair declared brightly,

"Games are for children lad." Oghren tried to dismiss him but Alistair wasn't giving up that easily,

"It's a drinking game, you'd be good at those." When Oghren rolled his eyes Alistair gave a pointed look at Elissa, say what you want about the dwarf, Alistair thought, but he'd probably do just about anything for her. Oghren looked over at his commander, taking in the slumped shoulders, the bags under her eyes and the serious expression before he rolled his eyes again but stood up,

"Fine. You get her, I'll get the other two."

"You know those maps are going to look exactly the same in the morning right?" He asked, "Looking at the path won't make it any shorter."

"That was actually quite profound if you think about it." Elissa said, but didn't look up.

"Come join us at the fire, we're going to have a drink and relax for a bit." When Elissa still didn't look like she was going to move he added, "Don't make me take the map off you."

"You can try," she said, but at least she was looking at him now, not at the map.

"Well yes, but then there's blood and fighting and stains to get out of cave floors, that's a real nightmare you know? It would be easier if you just came and had a drink with us." She looked past him to see the others sat waiting for them,

"Fine." Elissa sighed, "But you know a night drinking with Oghren will probably still get stains on the floor."

When they were all sat around the fire and had a skein of spirit each provided by Oghren Alistair explained the rules of the game,

"Some of the Wardens taught me this just after my joining. Let's see, we go around the circle and everyone says something about themselves and the others have to guess if it's true or not. If they guess correctly the story teller takes a drink, if they guess incorrectly the guesser takes a drink. For example, I could say that I once dyed all the undergarments belonging to another Templar pink, if Nathaniel guesses it's true and it is then I take a drink. Do you get it? Good. I'll go first, I once accidentally locked myself in a cage in Redcliffe dungeon and was stuck there for an entire day."

"Oh that's got to be true!" Elissa said, Alistair grinned, she was laughing already.

A few hours, and copious amounts of alcohol later and Elissa and Alistair were the only ones still awake, the others having passed out around the fire with wolf pelts thrown over them.

"I can't believe Oghren got robbed in Dust Town," Elissa giggled quietly, she was sprawled out on her own wolf pelt, waving her skein in the air.

"Well if you're gonna pass out there what do you expect? My favourite was the one Nathaniel told where he used his first tourney winnings to buy a wind-up singing bronto. I'm still not entirely sure he wasn't having us on! Oh, and Anders discovering he had magic by setting a barn on fire?" He chuckled, slurring slightly.

"It's very unfair, you guessed every single one of my stories right. You know me too well! That's almost cheating," she pouted at him.

"OK, I'll give you one more chance, give it your best shot."

Elissa thought for a moment, "Oh I've got a good one!" She sat up and did her best to keep a straight face, "My father convinced my mother to marry him using a sea shanty." Alistair looked at her seriously for a moment before a grin cracked his face,

"True!" he said and laughed when Elissa was forced to drink. "A sea shanty, really?" Alistair asked when Elissa was finished with her drink,

"Mmm," She smiled, "'The Solider and the Seawolf'. It was actually written about them."

"Well nice to know you come from a classy upbringing," Alistair replied and had to duck when she threw her now empty skein at his head, "Next game you lose and you're singing that, forget the drinking." Elissa laughed and dropped back down onto her side facing him. "You got most of mine right too though."

"I missed the one about you swapping the Chant Of Light with the abridged version, it's a wonder The Grand Cleric didn't kick you out the door when Duncan came recruiting."

"What can I say? The woman could see a good thing when she saw it," Alistair winked at her, making her laugh again,

"Thanks for tonight Alistair, this was a really great idea."

"Eh, I was due." He looked over the fire at her, "The stupid things I've done far outweigh the smart ones." he cleared his throat, feeling awkward. "Erm, anyway. Get some sleep, I'll talk to you in the morning."

Curling up under her pelt that night Elissa's heart felt lighter than it had in a very long time.

"Alistair!" A voice hissed in his ear, "Alistair!" there it was again. He pulled his pelt up higher,

"Five more minutes," He mumbled. A foot nudged him in the back and he groaned.

"Alistair wake up!"

"No." He mumbled again, rolling over this time.

"I swear to the Maker, I will drag you into the nearest snow bank..." he faked snored at the voice.

"I'll mess up your hair..."

"OK, OK, I'm up! I'm up! Don't mess with the hair." Elissa nudged him with her foot once more for good measure and rolled her eyes at him. Alistair sat up and looked around, everyone else was nearly ready to go by the looks of things. Holding his head he groaned again, what had he been thinking? Oghren took pity on him and pushed one of his small potions into Alistair's hand.

"It's not exactly Antivan brandy son, but it'll shift that bronto sized headache you're bound to have today."

Alistair caught Anders eye and when Anders nodded at him he uncorked the small bottle and downed it. They all looked a little worse for wear that morning but the potion worked quickly so that by the time they stepped out of the cave the worst of Alistair's hangover was gone.

The path didn't seem as steep and it didn't feel quite as cold that day, it was amazing what a difference moral made. Everyone was chatting and laughing again and when they stopped for lunch Elissa declared they were about to make their descent. This was met by resounding cheers, they were past the halfway point.


	15. Chapter 15

"Listen up everyone," Elissa waved to get the attention of the others, "we'll be back on the Imperial Highway before nightfall and while I'm sure we'll all be happy to leave the mountains behind we need to start being careful. This is where the roads are really going to start being dangerous. There's a lot of trade between Jader and Halamshiral so we can expect caravans as well as the normal civilians. This is also where we need to start looking out for Templars, from what we know any apostates caught are being taken to Halamshiral, there will have been a lot of them trying to escape to Orlais during the blight so I'm expecting a lot of Templar patrols. Ideally it would be great if we could somehow tail a few of them, listen in on their conversations, that sort off thing. See if we can learn anything new. So keep your eyes open. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that we can avoid larger settlements by going around them, basically anywhere that might have a chantry we want to avoid. Any questions?" When everyone shook their heads she nodded, "Alright, let's go."

They reached the end of Gherlen's pass sooner than they had expected but it wasn't long before they came to their first burned out husk of a caravan, the poor Oxen that had been pulling the caravan slaughtered.

"Well this can't be good." Anders said when they came to a stop a few feet away.

"Keep an eye out," Elissa said, "This hasn't been here very long, they're probably still close by." They kept walking and came across three more destroyed caravans.

"I'm sensing a pattern here," Anders said. Just then Alistair tapped her shoulder and pointed into the distance, a small plume of smoke was rising into the sky. They couldn't see what was happening, trees were blocking their view.

"Three guesses who that's going to be." Alistair said.

Elissa sighed, trouble seemed to follow her everywhere.

"Alright, looks like we're going to see some action today after all. Nate, scout ahead and see what we're dealing with. Do NOT engage until we get there. You hear me? Wait for us." Nathaniel nodded to say he'd understood and disappeared into the tree line. The others followed carefully, making as little noise as possible.

A few minutes later and they'd caught up to Nathaniel, he'd positioned himself behind some bushes with a view of the clearing in front of him.

"It's the bandits alright." He whispered to Elissa, bow already in hand, "I've seen at least ten. Four in front, three are behind the house and three watching the road. They've burned the farm house but the family that live there are still alive. " She glanced past him and could see the small family, four civilians, two of them children.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah, they've got mabari. At least three."

"Wonderful." Turning back to the group she said, "We've four villagers, including two children. At least ten bad guys and three warhounds. You know your jobs, Anders try to shield the family as best you can, watch your area of effect and lets get them out of this."

Bending over she crept behind a cart, using it for cover with Alistair and Oghren right behind her, Anders and Nathaniel holding back. She wanted to get as close to the bandits as possible before losing the element of surprise, hopefully most of this group would be dead before the others from the road arrived.

She crept up behind then man who seemed to be in charge as he was talking to the family, she was almost upon him when he heard her and span around, before he could say more than "Hey!" she'd smashed the pommel of her sword into his face, breaking his nose. The second the bandit had turned Anders had surrounded the family with an arcane shield, a second after that Elissa heard the blades of her swords burst into flame. She saw the shock in the wide eyes of a bandit before she swept her swords in front of her, he jumped back to avoid her swings and reached for daggers of his own. He managed to block her first attack from her right blade but left himself wide open for her left sword, she dispatched him quickly.

"Left!" Alistair shouted, she looked in that direction to see the three other bandits and their mabari run around the side of the ruined farm house, two of the dogs were heading towards Anders and Nathaniel, Elissa let out a roar, gaining the dogs attention and pulling them away from the others. With three mabari warhounds now quickly charging her she ran for the cart they'd used earlier, climbing atop it to get out of the way of the snapping jaws, she glanced over her shoulder as she ran, the three new bandits had engaged Oghren and Alistair but with the help of Nathaniel's arrows it looked like that fight would be over quickly. Now out of the reach of the mabari, she took advantage of her height and attacked the weak spot on the backs if their necks, no need to drag it out, she hated killing mabari. She'd just finished the last one when she felt a hit on her left arm,

"Son-of-a..." looking up and seeing the bandits from the road had joined the fray, she screamed, "Archers!" before throwing herself behind the cart to gain some cover.

"Fireball!" She heard Anders shout, mere seconds before she heard one of the bandits scream. The bandits might have been quite skilled with a bow but they were nothing compared to Nathaniel, two head-shots later and it was over. Elissa stayed behind the cart for a moment, looking half amused at the arrow shaft sticking out of her arm, her armour had taken the brunt of the damage. Alistair came to a skidding stop beside her.

"You're hit!" he grabbed her arm, shouting for Anders over his shoulder,

"It's fine, honestly." she tried to reassure him.

He ignored her and started removing the plating on her arm, being careful not to touch the arrow,

"Alistair, it barely touched me, it's fine." He ignored her again, concentrating on taking off her gauntlet. She put her other hand on top of his to stop him, when he looked up she could see the frantic panic clear in his eyes,

"I'm fine." she said softly.

"They were too far away to do any real damage, idiots." Said Nathaniel as the others walked around the side of the cart. Alistair quickly dropped her arm and jumped to his feet. Anders bent down and had a quick look at her injury.

"Count of three," he said, taking hold of the arrow shaft, "One, two," and pulled.

Elissa hissed through her teeth a little, "What happened to three?" She asked.

"Never was much good at counting," he grinned, "Hold still." He applied a tiny amount of salve to the small wound the arrow had left, what little pain there was vanished almost immediately.

"Thanks." Elissa said, getting to her feet and putting her armour back in place. She glanced past their little group to see the family huddled together, watching them warily. Putting her weapons away she approached them slowly, showing her empty hands.

"It's OK, we're not going to hurt you."

"Thank the Maker." the farmer said, "I thought they were gonna kill us for sure."

"What did they want?" Elissa asked.

"Gold. There's been a lot of bandits around here lately, trying to get gold out of people, for protection they say. Protection my arse. Was never any trouble until they showed up. Watch yourself on the road my friend, there's more where they came from. I don't have anything to offer in reward..."

"I'd settle for information, if you have any?"

"Anything I can do." The farmer nodded eagerly.

"Have you seen many Templars around here recently? Or any apostates?" The farmer nodded eagerly again, seemingly overjoyed to able to help.

"A few days ago a couple of Templars passed by, stopped to buy some of the missuses pies. Hunting an escaped mage from what I heard, seemed to be giving them a bit of bother. They was heading back in the direction of the tower."

Elissa rummaged in a pocket and pulled out a few sovereigns, she gave them to the farmer and said,

"Thank you. That was really helpful. Please, if anyone asks..."

"I get it, I never saw you. Thanks again, my family owes you their lives."

"So we've got corrupt Templars and an army of bandits waiting for us at every turn. I don't want to know what's going to happen next," Elissa said a few minutes later as they made their way back to the road.

"We could do with finding this escaped mage before the Templars do." Suggested Alistair, "If nothing else he'll be able to give us information about the tower."

"Mmm, good point. I should have asked where the nearest small town is, if they're looking for an escaped mage then they'll check the towns first, we might have been able to catch the next patrol."

"Any town is bound to be on the highway anyway, it shouldn't matter."

The first town they came across was too large, they could see a Chantry steeple towering over the smaller buildings and as tempting as it was to go investigate Elissa decided it was too dangerous. She kept her fingers crossed that they hadn't made a mistake as they bypassed it and continued down the road. They reached another settlement just before nightfall, it was much smaller than the first, just a dozen or so buildings grouped together. They quickly made camp behind some trees on the other side of the road before retracing their steps. It wasn't much of a campsite but it was behind an embankment and Elissa was counting on that to hide their fire from the highway. After a short discussion they'd left their armour behind, just taking their weapons and wearing casual clothing, less likely to draw attention.

The settlement was deserted however, the only sounds coming from a small inn. Looking through a window Elissa could see no one but locals inside, not a Templar in sight. Trying to hide her disappointment she sighed, maybe they should have gone to the bigger town after all? Well, they were here now, may as well go see if the locals knew anything, pulling the hood of her cloak firmly around her face she led them inside.

The small bar was busy but after ordering them a few drinks and some hot food they found themselves a dark corner with a high table and a few stools, taking their seats they watched the locals, trying to decide the best way to approach them.

Their food hadn't even arrived yet when three Templars came down the stairs, Elissa closed her eyes, slightly overwhelmed by how stupid she'd been not to think they might have taken rooms. She watched in silence as they elbowed their way to the bar, before bowing their heads together in quiet conversation. The bar was so loud they had no chance of overhearing them. Nathaniel caught her eye with a raised brow, as the quietest and least conspicuous of their little band he was the logical choice. She nodded once and he silently slipped away from their table, taking his tankard to go lean on the bar a few feet away from the Templars. Elissa held her breath as one of the Templars looked over at him but breathed it out again when they dismissed him just as quickly, so far so good.

The Templars drank quickly and their conversation was getting louder and more boisterous with every drink, she saw the inn keeper giving them nervous glances a few times but so far they seemed to be behaving themselves. Everything seemed to be going well until one of the Templars turned, laughing to prop his elbows on the bar and looked right at them.

"Hey!" He said, pointing at Anders, "don't I know you?"

Oh crap! Elissa looked around wildly for an escape route but the only door was the one they came in, it was blocked by people, no way for a quick escape. She did the only thing she could think of, turning to Alistair she said,

"Sorry about this," before reaching behind him and pouring the remainder of her drink over the very large man sat behind him. Alistair looked behind him to see what she'd done only to be met by a now very angry large man who promptly drew a fist back and punched Alistair right in the face. Nathaniel, quickly catching on, pushed one of the locals into the three Templars and tripped another. As Elissa's table went crashing to the ground she pulled Oghren and Anders behind it,

"Grab Nate and get back to camp, we'll meet you there."

"But-" Anders started to protest,

"Now!" She ordered, pushing them toward the door.

Jumping to her feet she quickly assessed the scene, a full bar brawl was now taking place, furniture and tankards being lobbed around the room. She looked madly around trying to spot Alistair, catching a glimpse of blonde hair she weaved between fighting groups to find him surrounded by four locals, three were already unconscious at his feet. She leapt onto the back of the nearest man, forcing him to the ground, Alistair brought a knee up as he fell, knocking the man out. Elissa rolled from his back but didn't get far as someone else grabbed the hair that had escaped her hood, Alistair grabbed a tankard that was miraculously still unbroken and brought it crashing down on the persons head. Choosing the smaller of the two targets another local grabbed her by the shoulder before hitting her in the side of the face, she balled a fist and punched him in the stomach, releasing her to bend over winded he didn't see when Alistair tackled him to the ground with a roar. The fourth man seemed to think better of it and threw himself at another group that were mobbing the Templars. Seizing the moment Elissa grabbed Alistair's hand and darted for the door.

She ran through the dark village, still clutching Alistair's hand and hoping the others made it back to camp. They burst into the clearing to find Oghren, Nathaniel and Anders pointing weapons at them. Elissa released Alistair's hand to bend over with a laugh, with a hand on each knee she tried to catch her breath.

"Drinking with you is never boring princess," Laughed Oghren, "Might get to finish a drink one of these days."

"Did your face get used as a punching bag?" Alistair asked, "No? Well no complaining then." Helping himself to a water skein he collapsed by the small fire they'd set up earlier with a groan.

"I could never let them use Oghren's face as a punching bag, he's too pretty," Elissa winked over at Oghren.

"Oh fine, fine! Mock the wounded! You are a horrible person!" Elissa chuckled before turning to Nathaniel,

"Overhear anything good?"

"Yeah, actually," Nathaniel answered, "Before you instigated a riot they were talking about a mage they were tracking, by the sounds of things this has taken priority over looking for apostates in general. They didn't describe the mage except to refer to him as a him so all we know is that he's male but they did say that this guy has taken out a few patrols single-handedly so expect him to be dangerous. They seem to think he was from around here before joining the circle though so that's why they're hanging around, they're hoping he'll make his way home."

"Wow, chatty Templars! Do you think it could be the mage the farmer mentioned earlier?" Elissa asked,

"No idea." Nathaniel shrugged, "Could be I guess but no way of knowing for sure."

"Good work Nate. Looks like we're hunting tomorrow so everyone get a good nights sleep."

Once the others had entered their tents Elissa turned back to Alistair still sat at the fire and trying to clean blood off his face with a rag and the water from his skein. Sitting down next to him and peering at his face she winced,

"Oh thanks a lot," he said sarcastically, spotting her wince. She took the rag and water out his hands and started cleaning his wounds herself, "You know the Chantry warned me about women like you, getting me into bar fights. You'll be taking me to a brothel next."

"Didn't I already take you to a brothel once?"

"Oh yeah, The Pearl. Well that seals it then, you are officially wicked." She laughed quietly and, finished with her task, gave him the water and rag back. She was surprised when Alistair wet a different rag, then gently grasped her chin, turning her head to see where a rapidly growing bruise was forming. Slightly embarrassed she pulled her head back, shaking her loose hair to hide where she'd been hit,

"Hey," said Alistair softly, "let me see." After a pause she leant forward slightly allowing him to take her chin again. They sat in silence for a moment while he cleaned it before he said quietly,

"I shouldn't have left." Going perfectly still Elissa could have sworn her heart stopped in her chest, "After the Landsmeet...I shouldn't have left. It was just...Loghain as a Grey Warden, after everything he'd done. It's no excuse for abandoning you, after everything. Ugh, I'm so bad at this. Right from the beginning, from Flemeth's hut, we said we were in this together and I wasn't there, with you, at the end. I don't really know how to put it right or if I ever can but you should know I've regretted it every minute since I walked out those doors. But I've go to know Lissa, why did you do it?"

She'd known this conversation was going to have to happen at some point but she was dreading it all the same, swallowing past the lump in her throat she spoke just as quietly as he did,

"I didn't. I didn't go through with the joining, I was never going to." His hand stilled on her face, "Do you honestly think after everything he'd done to us, to you, I'd bestow the greatest honour I can think of on him? You'd been telling me for months you didn't want to be King, you wanted to be a Warden so when Anora asked if I'd back her bid for the throne I thought I was giving you what you wanted. Then suddenly I'm standing before a man that had put us through so much, hunted us to the end of the earth, had my family killed, killed Duncan, killed Cailan but all I could see was Anora. She was to be queen, she had to lead our armies to battle the blight, rally the nobles then continue to rule afterwards. Could I publicly shame her by beheading her father in front of every noble in Ferelden? How could she rule after that? And how could they see her as the same woman after I'd taken the last of her family and broken her before their eyes? You've never seen your family cut down in front of you Alistair, I have." She turned her head then, to look him in the eyes, "Yes, I killed Loghain, it broke her heart, but nobody had to see her brought that low."

"I...I don't know what to say. I didn't know." She looked away before saying,

"Yes, well you weren't the only one that disagreed apparently, Morrigan left that night too." Alistair shifted guiltily, he'd sworn she'd never know the deal he'd made in exchange for her life. That was his cross to bear, he'd die before making that her burden too. She didn't seem to notice him move as she continued quietly, "I've no idea what happened to her, if she made it out of Denerim. I hope she did but-ah it doesn't matter. That isn't the point, the point is you didn't trust me. You didn't trust my judgement, the idea I'd pick Loghain over you? Never in a million years. But _you_ should know I'd behead that monster a hundred times if it would turn back time."

He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers,

"Morrigan was right, I'm an idiot." She laughed softly,

"Maybe we both are." She leaned back but turned a little to rest her head on his shoulder, taking his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers. They sat that way for a long time, starring into the fire as it slowly burned down.


	16. Chapter 16

"These Templars are idiots!" Oghren declared, "We've been following them all morning, they're never gonna find this blighted mage."

While Elissa silently agreed she kept her thoughts to herself. They had no other leads, if this hadn't panned out by that night they'd give this up and carry on making their way to the Circle. They'd been watching for the Templars leaving the inn that morning, she'd smirked a bit to see one limping and all of them nursing small wounds on their faces. They'd followed them in the trees as they made their way along the road but they'd soon veered off the main road, taking a small path. Nathaniel had been scouting ahead, tracking the Templars and reporting back to the others with directions frequently, he hadn't been able to overhear very much, just snatches of conversations here and there, nothing to give away where the Templars were going.

"I think you might have spoken too soon Oghren." Anders said. Elissa looked up to see Nathaniel running in their direction, they picked up the pace and met him halfway.

"They've found the mage," Nathaniel panted, "Quick, this way."

By the time they'd caught up to the Templars they'd cornered the mage in a barn. They were arguing amongst themselves about how best to incapacitate him, giving Elissa and the others chance to sneak around the back of the barn. Elissa looked around, trying to find a way inside before the Templars stormed the front doors.

"There!" Anders said, pointing to some sort of delivery shoot in the floor. Nathaniel quickly picked the lock and one by one they squeezed through. The barn was too dark to see anything so Anders conjured his wisp again.

"We're not Templars," Elissa said, hoping the Templars outside wouldn't hear, "You can come out."

Anders tutted at her, "That's exactly what we'd say if we were Templars. Here," he said before raising his arms in the air, a moment later it was snowing. Elissa raised a brow at him and muttered "Show off," he grinned at her, lowered his arms and the snow stopped.

"You're really a mage?" A young man, roughly nineteen years old stepped out from behind a bale of hay. He looked like he'd been sleeping outside for a few days and was wearing a travelling cloak clearly far too large for him.

"Yes," Anders replied, "I'm really a mage and we're here to help you."

Just as the young mage started to step closer to them the doors of the barn burst open and the Templars ran in, weapons raised. Elissa stepped forward, standing in front of the boy, her friends flanking her on either side. The Templars looked rather comical for a moment, they'd clearly not been expecting anyone but the mage to be in the barn and had frozen, weapons still raised, upon seeing the group of well armed people in front of them.

The one in the middle was the first to recover, he lowered his weapon but it didn't escape anyone's notice that he didn't put it away.

"That's a dangerous mage fugitive you have there. Hand him over." He ordered.

"Please," the young mage whispered from behind her, "please don't let them take me. I just want to go home." Turning back to the Templars she said,

"Hmm, let me think. Erm, no, I don't think so." She heard the others slowly draw their weapons at her side.

"He a fugitive from the Circle! By my authority from The Grand Cleric I **demand** you hand him over!" The Templar growled, clearly losing his patience.

"No, the boy stays with us. I'm giving you one chance to walk away, I strongly suggest you take it." She saw doubt flash in the eyes of the Templar and for one brief moment she really thought they'd take her offer.

"Can't do that. Men?" All three Templars raised their weapons, Elissa let out a sigh, they _never_ walked away.

"Oghren protect the boy!" She said before flinging herself at the Templars. She and Alistair took one each while Oghren took the third, constantly keeping himself between the Templar and the mage. Nathaniel gave up on the bow, it wasn't made for such close quarters, instead drawing two daggers from his back and going to Oghren's aid. Anders cast a freezing spell at the Templar, allowing Oghren and Nathaniel to attack unchallenged, the Templar was dead before the spell wore off.

Elissa and Alistair worked almost as one, each using the others attacks to fuel there own, switching enemies to keep them off balance.

"Duck!" Alistair said as he slammed one of the Templars with his shield right where Elissa's head had been a split second before. Dropping under his arm she came up behind him, dragging her twin blades with her to block the attack meant for Alistair's exposed back.

The barn rang with the sound of metal upon metal and the crackling of Anders magic.

Alistair dropped his Templar before Elissa, "Lift!" She shouted, crouching and lowering his shield Alistair braced himself on his back leg as she hopped onto the shield with one foot, he pushed, propelling her forward as she leapt, bringing her swords down in an arc and embedding them in the Templar.

Turning to her grinning he said, "I win!"

"Only because I softened him up for you," Elissa grinned back,

"If it makes you feel better." He winked at her and they turned back to the others.

The young mage led them to a well hidden clearing just a few miles away to make camp that night. It was far enough from the road and far enough from the barn that they didn't need to worry about Templars, for the time being at least.

"Aeron?" Elissa asked, approaching the mage by the camp fire that night, "I know you've been through a lot but can we ask you some questions?" When he nodded she and the others sat down.

"What do you want to know?" Aeron asked.

Elissa thought for a moment then said, "Why don't you start at the beginning, tell us what happened to you."

"You want my whole life story? That's going to take awhile. Alright, well I guess I was from here originally, in fact my father is a local noble. Quite the scandal when it turned out I had magic, my family is quite involved with the Chantry you see so as soon as my father found out I was shipped immediately off to the Circle, I hated him so much." Aeron said bitterly. "They didn't even want me as close as Halamshiral so I was sent to the circle at Ferelden. I was still there up until a year or two ago when I managed to escape. There was an attempted take over of the Circle by a blood mage named Uldred, perhaps you heard about it?" Elissa nodded but didn't interrupt. "Well during the fighting I managed to get away. I'd gotten as far as the boarder to Orlais when I was picked up by the Templars but this time they took me to the tower at Halamshiral. The Knight-Commander there-" he stopped.

"We know something is going on at that tower Aeron, we're going to stop them but we need your help, we need to know what's happening." Elissa said softly,

Aeron nodded, "I know, it's just...you have no idea. The things they're doing. They're experimenting with the mages, the Rite of Tranquillity, Lyrium branding." He looked up into Elissa's eyes, "They're trying to build an army." He whispered, "When you make a mage tranquil you cut them off from the fade, they lose their power, their dreams and emotions. They basically become biddable, mindless slaves. They won't object if you ask them to do something or fight back because they no longer have a will of their own. But if you could do all that and still give them the power of a mage..." he lifted the sleeves of his too-large travelling cloak.

"By the Maker." Elissa breathed.

Aeron's arms were covered in brands of lyrium.

Dropping his sleeves again he continued, "I'm the only one to survive 'the process' as they call it, so far. That's why they were hunting me so relentlessly. It's no wonder they don't survive, I wished I was dead long before it was over, the pain, is...is simply unbelievable."

"They're trying to brand the tranquil?" Anders asked, astonished, "They'd have an army of magisters at their command."

Aeron nodded, "Yes. They can't get the process right yet and they're running out of tranquil. At first they were using the rite as a punishment, any excuse to make more tranquil for their experiments. They gave that pretence up eventually, they don't even bother trying to justify it any more. But the tranquil don't even last as long as a normal mage, the process kills them too quickly so the knight-commander tried to get the branding to take on a mage with the plan to make them tranquil after, see if it works that way around but I managed to escape while they thought I was still recovering. They've been hunting me ever since."

Alistair sat quietly by the fire thinking about everything that had happened that day. While the lyrium experiments were beyond what they'd thought it made some twisted sort of sense. But there was something about Aeron that put him on edge. Something didn't quite add up but Alistair couldn't put his finger on exactly what. He tried to shake it off as merely paranoia but his instincts were telling him to be careful. Elissa was the one who trusted people, not him.

A few hours before dawn Aeron crept out of his tent, the only sound was the dwarf snoring. The other mage had shared a tent with the rogue, giving his tent to Aeron. Silently he opened the flap to Elissa's tent. Some hero of Ferelden, he thought sneering down at her. Did she honestly think he hadn't recognised her? The lyrium brands on his skin lit up as he waved a hand across her sleeping form, casting a paralysing spell.


	17. Chapter 17

"Alisatir!" Anders shouted, throwing back the flap to Alistair's tent, "Alistair, get up."

"What? What's happened now?" He asked, still groggy and half asleep. Anders looked at him with genuine pity, before saying quietly

"Elissa's gone."

That woke him up in a hurry, scrambling out of his bed roll he demanded, "What do you mean Elissa's gone? She wouldn't just leave!"

"Just come and see." Anders held the tent open for him as he quickly entered the campsite, marching straight over to Elissa's tent, he stopped mid-stride when he saw the the front of her tent had collapsed. Oghren was pacing between her tent and the burned out fire swinging his axe while Nathaniel was on his knees, pulling items from the ruined tent.

"Her weapons are still here as is her armour." Nathaniel sat back on his haunches, "She even left her pack." He got up and went to search the rest of their campsite.

Alistair didn't believe for a moment she would just wander off without waking him and the others.

"Wait." he said, looking around "Where's the mage?"

"Gone." was Oghren's mumbled one word response.

Alistair closed his eyes for a moment, trying to ignore the gnawing of panic in his stomach and think. Had Templars come to take the mage in the night? Couldn't have, they'd have woken everyone up. Had Elissa and the mage got up early and gone off somewhere? With Elissa still in her sleeping clothes and not so much as a knife with her? No. That wasn't it either. He knew the only way Elissa would leave without a word was if she had no choice, racking his brains for more innocent reasons for her disappearance was wasting time.

"For the sake of the ancestors," Oghren growled out, "He's taken her. Why are we still standing around?"

"We don't know that Oghren." Anders protested.

"No, he's right. It's the only explanation. But why? And where would he have taken her? What do we know about him?"

"He said his father was a local noble. Didn't he say at the barn that he wanted to go home?" asked Anders.

"Yeah," Oghren chimed in, "So?"

"Hang on, that's not right." Said Nathaniel, pausing in his search of the campsite, "He said last night that he hated his father, that it was him that turned the kid over to the Templars. Why would he go there after escaping? Wouldn't his father just turn him in again?"

Alistair felt his stomach drop, that was it. He knew something wasn't ringing right with the mages story, that was it.

"He's going home alright," Alistair said, turning to grab his armour and weapons from his own tent, "he's going for revenge."

"But why would he take Elissa with him?"

"I've no idea, but we're going to find out."

After quickly donning his armour Alistair approached Nathaniel, crouched on the ground behind Elissa's tent,

"Please tell me you've got something?" Alistair asked him.

Nathaniel pointed to a indent in the mud, "You see that? That's not one of us. We approached from the other direction, but whoever made that footprint is heavier than Elissa or Aeron."

Alistair strapped his sword to his back, "Not if he was carrying her."

"Shit. Well he's heading in that direction, I can track him but it's going to take awhile."

"He must have been planning this from last night, he picked this camping spot remember? It must be nearby or he'd have had us camp closer."

Nathaniel stood up, giving Alistair a funny look,

"What?" Alistair asked,

Nathaniel shook his head, "Nothing, you just sound like her." Alistair felt the panic start to rise again and firmly clamped a lid on it, with a grim look and a nod to Nathaniel he waved for Oghren and Anders. Leaving the camp as it was they followed Nathaniel into the trees.

Elissa woke up with a pounding headache and was freezing cold. Squinting she blinked her eyes open and tried to move her arms, hearing the jingle of chains she groaned as she realised her arms were chained to a wall over her head. Glancing down she noticed she was only in her underwear, no wonder I'm cold, she thought. Looking around the room the graveness of her situation dawned on her, bare stone walls all around and a very heavy looking door with a small barred window. There was a rack in the centre of the room and some iron cages in the corner. A dungeon. She groaned again, closing her eyes, she'd woken up in a dungeon before, it wasn't an experience she was hoping to relive. At least Alistair had been there last time. Her eyes shot open again, were Alistair and the others here too? She pulled on the chains over her head, they didn't budge, firmly sealed to the wall. She pulled until her arms ached with the effort before falling back with a frustrated snarl. How did she get here? She remembered nothing after going to sleep the night before. Footsteps were coming down the hall, she listened carefully. Yes, footstep. Not knowing if they were friendly or not she kept quiet, trying to peer through the small window in the door to see them. There was no need, the door flew open as Aeron stepped into the room.

"Aeron?" Elissa asked, "What's going on?"

Aeron grinned over at her, sending a shiver up her spine.

"You're in my fathers house, well my recently deceased father, I guess it's my house now."

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as he continued to grin over at her. Where was the quiet, terrified boy she'd met yesterday? This wasn't the same person, she looked him in the eye, this person was completely insane and she was in a lot of trouble.

He walked slowly toward her and she could see the blood and gore that splattered him almost from head to toe. Dread curled in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Alistair and her friends.

"What have you done with them?" She ground out between her teeth, "Where are my friends?"

He looked surprised but leaned back casually against the bloodstained rack and crossed his arms, "Nothing, not yet anyway. No doubt I'll get to them eventually. After all, they're not going to leave the great Hero of Ferelden chained up in a dungeon are they?"

Elissa felt herself sag in relief, wait, what did he say? "You know who I am?" Elissa asked.

Without warning Aeron's hand lashed out, viciously hitting her around the face, "Yes, I know who you are!" he screamed, "Every mage should know who you are! We'd be living in a new imperium if not for you!" He turned, pacing the small dungeon. Elissa, ears ringing, turned her head to watch, spitting blood out of her mouth. "Uldred was going to lead us to freedom! Life away from the Templars, ruling you as the mages were always meant to. But you murdered him!" Throwing his cloak off his shoulders his lyrium brands lit up, glowing their eerie pale blue. "They did this to me, and it was your fault!" Panting hard he turned to face her, in almost a casual tone of voice he said, "But no matter, maybe I should even be thanking you. These lyrium brands have given me power that most mages only dream of. Maybe I should give you a demonstration?"

Elissa braced herself and swore she wouldn't scream as Aeron cast crushing prison and she felt her ribs begin to squeeze.

The gates to the courtyard were open when Alistair, Anders, Nathaniel and Oghren approached, one was hanging off it's hinges. Quietly entering the grounds, they looked around, it was completely deserted.

"Where's the guard?" Oghren wondered aloud, "There should be someone here."

There were stairs in front of them leading to a large set of wooden doors, they were halfway up the steps when they heard the first moan, Alistair looked behind him to see shambling corpses start to make their way toward them.

"He's raised the dead." Anders said under his breath, as the first corpse climbed the steps.

"Nate, ranged weapons, Anders make these bastards burn, Oghren with me." Alistair shouted before charging back down the stairs. Arrows and spells flew through the air while Oghren's giant axe and Alistair's sword cut enemies down left and right, they fought with a grim determination and none of their usual banter. All perfectly aware that every second out here was one more second they weren't searching for Elissa.

When the last enemy finally fell to one of Anders fireballs they regrouped at the top of the stairs.

"Blood magic." Anders spat, "There could very well be a demon at work here, we need to be careful."

They pushed the heavy doors open and made their way into the entrance hall, the floor was stained with blood and more bodies littered the area around them,

"Maker, what happened here?" Alistair breathed out, "It was a slaughter."

"How could one person do all this?" Nathaniel asked,

"It must be the lyrium brands, he wasn't lying about that."

"The lyrium wont stop an axe," Oghren said, "Where do we go now? This place is huge."

Glancing around the hall Alistair couldn't see any clue to what direction they might have gone in, "There'll be a dungeon, we need to find a way down. It's probably going to be near the kitchens."

As they made their way around the lower floor of the house they didn't see a single person left alive, guards, servants it didn't seem to matter, the mage had left nothing but death behind him. Alistair was trying not to think about it but in the back of his mind he knew that their chances of finding Elissa alive were slim at best. He pushed forward, panic and fury combining in his chest.

They found a tight winding staircase in the back of a pantry near the kitchens,

"OK," Alistair said to the others, "This is it. He's only one person but we've seen what he's capable of so don't take any chances," he hated what he was going to say next but he knew it's what she'd have said, "If you need to, fall back. You're not helping anyone if you're dead, it's better that we retreat than add to his body count." Looking around at the others he knew that retreat was not an option any of them were going to take. As he pulled the door open and led the way down the stairs he thought, I'll tear that bastards heart out if he's hurt her.

The corridor in front of them was narrow, with a packed dirt floor and doors on either side but around halfway down a door stood open, as quietly as possible they made their way toward it, weapons drawn.

The others averted their eyes when they saw her, Alistair had the complete opposite reaction, he couldn't look away. Wearing nothing but her underwear she was chained to a wall, chin resting on her chest and her hair hanging limp, hiding her face. Every inch of her skin was blooded or mottled with bruises. He seemed to stand there for an eternity before his paralysis snapped and he hurried forward. They hadn't even made it halfway across the room though before a familiar figure stepped out of the shadows.

"Well she was right." Aeron grinned at them, "She was so sure you'd come." He glanced over at Elissa, "Tougher than she looks isn't she? She held up better than I expected." Looking back at Alistair his grin widened into something hideous, "Daddy would be proud. Well, he would have been if she hadn't left him to die to save her own skin."

"That's not what happened." Alistair growled back at him,

"But it's what **she** thinks happened. Amaranthine, Denerim, Ostagar...so much blood, so much pain. She didn't even need to say a word, I could violate her mind as easily as you would turn the pages of a book. It's pathetic. You can break someone mind as easily as you can break their bones. So tell me Alistair, who's Duncan?" With a roar Alistair threw himself at Aeron, Oghren right beside him. He could barely hear the sound of his own footsteps over the blood pounding in his ears. He raised his sword but brought it down through empty air as Aeron vanished reappearing behind them, with a sweep of his arm he threw Anders and Nathaniel into the wall.

Chuckling darkly to himself he said, "Well that touched a nerve. How about you dwarf? Still a drunk pining after your crazy dead wife?" Alistair and Oghren charged him again but he put up an arcane shield, using it to force them back. Fighting like a man possessed against the invisible barrier Alistair pummelled it with his sword, throwing his whole body weight behind each blow to no avail. The power of the mage was like nothing he'd ever encountered before, they weren't even making a dent, Aeron was toying with them as a cat would with a cornered mouse. Nathaniel tried to flank him with a dagger in each hand, but had to drop to the ground when Aeron sent a conjured ball of stone in his direction, "Ah," He said, "The Howe whelp, what's it like having a murderous psychopath as a father? The apple never falls far from the tree you know." Nathaniel quickly regained his feet,

"I'm nothing like him." He ground out before rushing at Aeron, bringing his twin daggers around slashing in front of him. Aeron chuckled again, balling his hands into fists and casting crushing prison on Nathaniel. Anders responded with Winders Grasp, it wasn't enough to freeze the mage but it did force him to release his hold on Nathaniel, gasping for breath he fell to the floor. Oghren and Alistair finally broke through the shield ready for another attack. Oghren grabbed Alistair, pushing them both to the ground behind the rack to avoid the cone of cold that Aeron sent in their direction. Alistair shot a glance at Elissa, she hadn't so much as fluttered an eyelid. The dread and panic he'd been feeling all day curdled in his stomach, he was going to kill this bastard for what he'd done to her. Oghren grabbed him again, he was having to fight the urge to punch the kid to get his head back in the game, Alistair was no berserker, the rage was going to get him killed. Pulling him to eye level Oghren hollerred,

"You can't save her if you're dead! If we die, she dies!" Alistair's eyes seemed to clear a little, he glanced over the top of the rack at the others, seeing Nathaniel pull himself to his feet while Anders frantically tried to protect them from Aerons spells.

"If we can stop him, make him stand still for just a couple of seconds..." Alistair shouted at Oghren,

"Now you're talking."

Taking advantage of the others being behind cover Anders launched a fireball at Aeron but he put a shield up around himself.

"We need to drop his shields!" Anders shouted in frustration,

"Nate! Pin him!" Alistair shouted back, he gave Nathaniel a second to have his bow in hand before meeting Oghren's eyes with a nod and using his Templar abilities to dispel Aeron's shield. Jumping to his feet he saw Nathaniel's perfect hit, straight through the young mages foot and into the floor. Vaulting over the rack he pummelled Aeron with his shield and brought his sword around to slice into his side before the mage freed himself and sent out a wave of mana, stunning Alistair and forcing him backwards. Oghren took his place going low and swinging his axe to take out Aeron's legs, seeing the attack Aeron dodged, but not quite far enough, the attack drew blood but wasn't the crippling attack Oghren was hoping for. Throwing his arms up before bringing them down again Aeron sent Oghren slamming into the ground. Aiming for the leg Oghren had weakened Nathaniel let an arrow loose, with a twitch of a finger Aeron stopped it mid air and sent it flying back at Nathaniel, jumping to the side he managed to dodge it, the arrow lodged into the wall behind him.

Eye's rolling madly in their sockets Aeron screamed, "I will carry on his work! We will rule you all, you're nothing compared to us!" Throwing an arm out he launched a fireball at Alistair.

"No you don't!" Shouted Anders before forming his own shield, this time around Alistair. From inside the iridescent shield Alistair looked over at Elissa through the flames surrounding him, he felt his blood boil with rage, anger he'd never known before flooded through him, blocking out any other emotion. No, only one more person was going to die today.

The force of the fireball destroyed the shield but Alisatir emerged unharmed by the flames and charged at Aeron, the cords of his neck standing out with the force of his battle cry. Throwing all his weight behind his shield Alistair ran right at him not giving Aeron time to defend himself before being rammed into the wall and impaled on the arrow lodged there. Falling back half a step he twisted to the side, giving Nathaniel a clear shot to pin the mage in place with an arrow through each shoulder, he brought his sword up, cutting through the mages chest and slicing him nearly in two. Stepping back he let the body slump to the floor.

Alistair dropped his weapons at his feet and rushed over to Elissa, gently brushing her hair away from her face he heard her moan,

"Maker, she's still alive."

Nathaniel was at his side in an instant, working to pick the locks of her chains, she was freed in seconds and Alistair caught her gently as she fell, lowering her to the floor. Anders knelt on the ground next to them, a pale light radiated from his hands as he held them over her, face creased in concentration he murmured,

"Broken ribs." He looked to Alistair, feeling the need to ask for permission but Alistair was staring at Elissa. Anders placed his hands on her side as carefully as he could and closed his eyes, focusing on the damage he felt the heat move down his fingers and into Elissa. After he'd done all his could for her ribs he turned to Alistair and said,

"Alistair?" Alistair didn't hear him, snapping his fingers in front of Alistair's face he tried again, "Alistair, look at me." This time Alistair met his eyes, "Both her shoulders are dislocated. If I had to guess I'd say she'd done it herself at some point straining at the chains. They need to go back in. I need you to hold her while I put them back into place. This is going to be unpleasant but it's better we do it while she's unconscious." Alisatir wanted to kill Aeron again, he couldn't imagine the agony he'd put her through to make her dislocate her own shoulders in an effort to get away. Propping Elissa again Alistair's chest Anders took the heel of her hand in his,

"Sorry Elissa," he said quietly and with a push he felt her bone go back into place, then did the same on the other side. Almost collapsing with exhaustion from the effort of healing her ribs Anders stood back.

"We need to get her back to camp, there's damage to her muscles and ligaments but she's in shock, I don't feel safe putting her through any more. I don't feel a head injury, her mind is trying to escape the pain, she'll wake up when she's ready." Alistair desperately wanted to thank him but his throat had closed over, speaking seemed out of the question. He grasped Anders hand and nodded, hoping he was understood, the look in the mages eyes said he was. There'd be time to talk later.

Gently lifting her up and holding her to his chest as best as he could in his bulky armour Alistair led the others from the dungeon, Nathaniel and Oghren helping to support Anders.

Arriving back at their camp Alistair bypassed Elissa's half destroyed tent and took her directly to his. She'd been shivering uncontrollably since leaving the dungeon, a symptom of shock according to Anders, her skin freezing to the touch. He pushed the tent flap open and carefully placed her inside his bedroll before covering her with pelts, it didn't seem to help, if anything the shivering was getting worse. He got up to go and ask Anders before stopping in the entryway and turning back, an idea occurring to him. Before he could over think it he quickly pulled off his own armour, leaving just the bottoms of his under armour and climbed into the bedroll next to her, pulling her again his bare chest and tucking her head under his chin. A feeling of contentment overtook him as he felt her shaking slowing down before stopping completely and felt her body relax into him as she slept.


	18. Chapter 18

Alistair would never know how long he lay holding her that night. Just listening to her breathing and being grateful for every breath she took. As he watched her sleep it dawned on him that there probably wasn't a thing in the world he wouldn't do for her. The idea that she had almost died without him having told her that chilled him to the bone. He buried his face in her hair to chase the feeling away and remind himself that she was still there. He'd been so worried about how she felt about him because twenty four hours ago the worst thing he could think of was her rejecting him but now it didn't seem to matter as much. If she had died without him ever telling her? That would be so much worse.

He looked down at her again, she had never looked so beautiful to him because of how close he'd come to losing her. He'd gone through it once and it had nearly destroyed him, he was sure he wouldn't survive it a second time.

Elissa stirred in the night, waking Alistair up. He had no idea how much time had passed but he must have fallen asleep at some point, it was dark outside, the last glow of the dying fire the only light. When she stirred again he pulled her closer trying to let her know silently that she was safe.

"Alistair?" She asked quietly after a moment, her words were muffled slightly by his chest but she made no effort to move,

"Shhh, I'm here, it's OK." He tried to sooth her, running a hand over her hair.

"Is everyone alright?"

"Everyone's fine. You should be sleeping.."

After another pause she asked, "Is he dead?"

"He's dead." Alistair replied.

She stated to cry softly against his chest, in all the time he'd known her he'd never seen her cry before. Tears threatened his own eyes and he stroked her back and hair while whispering words of comfort in her ear.

When she'd finally cried herself out Alistair put hand under her chin, pulling her face up to look at him. She tried to hide her tear stained face, embarrassed by her tears, but he cupped her cheek with his palm until she met his eyes. He leant down and gently kissed the tears from her cheeks.

"It doesn't make you weak. You are so much stronger than you realise, the strongest person I've known. And so much braver than me, I was terrified today, more scared than I've ever been in my life. I'm still scared, scared because you mean more to me than anybody ever has done before. I honestly don't know what I'd do if something happened to you. But it's made me realise something. When you told me about Amaranthine, about how you were worried you'd gone back to Vigils Keep because you didn't want to lose another family? I didn't understand it then, but I do now. I understand because there's nothing I wouldn't do to keep you safe, it terrifies me what I would do for you. You're it, my family, my everything. My heart is and always will be yours. I love you Lissa."

She opened her mouth to say something in response but he brushed his thumb lightly over her lips,

"I just needed to tell you. I didn't want to wake up another morning without you knowing how I felt."

She stared up at him with huge dark eyes in what looked like complete wonder. Two more tears escaped from her lids, he swept them away with his thumbs before leaning over and brushing his lips across hers in the softest of kisses.

"Can you sleep?" She nodded and he pulled her into his body, feeling her sigh as she curled against him. They slept.

When Alistair woke the next morning on his back with Elissa's head on his chest he didn't even bother trying to keep the smile off his face. He gently ran his hand over her forearm that was thrown across his stomach and waited for her to wake up.

"Good morning." He said when she looked up and smiled at him, "Hungry?"

"Starving. But don't move, just give me a minute." She stretched out next to him, keeping her head on his chest before tightening the arm over his stomach for a moment, just enjoying his closeness.

"OK, now I'm hungry." Chuckling a little he extracted himself, pulled a tunic on and exited the tent.

To his surprise the others were sat silently around the dead campfire waiting for him. Nathaniel jumped to his feet and Oghren asked,

"How is she?" as soon as he appeared.

"She's fine." Elissa shouted from the tent. Alistair shrugged at Oghren with a grin,

"I guess that's your answer." Oghren snorted and mumbled something under his breath that Alistair didn't quite catch but he was pretty sure he heard "crazy-ass woman" in there somewhere. While he sorted them out some breakfast and water Anders went in to check on her.

He felt Oghren's and Nathaniel's eyes on him turning to face them he asked,

"What?"

"Seriously, how is she?" Nathaniel was more careful to keep his voice quieter than Oghren had been he noticed.

"She's OK. A bit banged up and sore I imagine but awake, as you heard. Anders is the healer, ask him." Alistair waited with Nathaniel and Oghren for Anders to be finished before taking Elissa's breakfast in.

A few minutes later Anders emerged from the tent, "Stubborn Maker-forsaken woman! Alistair, you deal with her!"

"That's my girl." Oghren said with a laugh. It seemed to be enough to let the others think she was on the mend and they started their day, he shook his head as he watched them. She knew them so well it was a little scary.

Taking their breakfast and water into the tent he found Elissa in one of his tunics, sat up waiting.

"Breakfast in bed?" She asked, "I should get kidnapped by crazy mages more often." He passed her her food with a smile but as he sat next to her he asked in a quieter voice so the others wouldn't hear,

"Wanna talk about it?" She shook her head seriously,

"I will, but not yet." He accepted it with a nod, content to wait.

"Absolutely not!" Anders said as firmly as he could. Elissa ignored him and carried on putting on her lightest armour, "You shouldn't even be up yet. We are **not** moving camp." He stood his ground with his arms crossed.

Alistair, Nathaniel and Oghren watched from a distance.

"Twenty silvers on Elissa." Oghren whispered to the others. They saw her cross her own arms and lean into her hip.

"Forget that," Nathaniel whispered back, "I'm not taking that bet."

"Wise decision." Alistair chimed in.

He actually agreed with Anders but wasn't stupid enough to tell her that. It was only just mid-afternoon and she should be taking a few days to rest but he understood her side too. If she sat around she would just start thinking about what had happened to her, she had to move, to fight, to prove to herself she wasn't beaten. The others had clearly been shocked when they'd seen her but they'd hidden it well. She'd kept herself covered as much as possible but there was no hiding her face. Even with the blood cleaned off her face was almost entirely purple with bruising, one of her eyes was nearly swollen completely closed and a, thankfully small, cut had split her upper lip. Even with all that she'd smiled and joked to put them at ease. Alistair watched her slightly in awe and tried to ignore the slight limp and winces that crossed her face when she thought no one was looking.

"Go distract Elissa," he said after a few minutes when she and Anders were still arguing, "I'll talk to Anders."

Pulling Anders to one side he said,

"Look, you're not going to talk her out of this, you're just making her more determined. She's stubborn but not entirely stupid, she'll stop if she tires." Anders pulled a hand through his hair.

"I know, I know. But be reasonable. Would she allow any of us to move camp in her condition?"

"None of us have been through what she's been through." Alistair countered, "We won't get far before dark anyway and I'm planning on keeping an eye out for a village. If we see somewhere I'll try and talk her into a few nights at an inn. How's that?"

After Anders finally relented they got going, Alistair silently picked up Elissa's pack, she'd raised an eyebrow at him but for once decided not to argue. As Alistair had predicted they had barely reached the Imperial Highway before it was starting to get dark. Elissa had walked slowly, they'd pretended not to notice.

She insisted on them making their way down the road a little bit though so it was another hour before they stopped for the night. When Anders and Oghren gathered wood for the fire Nathaniel presented her with her tent that he'd fixed for her that morning. As much as she appreciated the gesture, which she really did, she was disappointed that she wouldn't have an excuse to share with Alistair. They'd left a lot of things unsaid. When she caught Alistair's eye she was sure she saw her own feelings mirrored back at her.

So that night, cold, lonely and back in her own tent she starred up at the canvas. Anders had giving her something for the pain, just walking today had taken more out of her than she'd have liked. The salve he'd given her for her face had worked wonders, her lip was almost healed already. She also felt a bit guilty about the hard time she was giving her friend. She knew he was just doing his job and he cared about her but she just couldn't sit around right now. She promised herself she'd apologise and explain in the morning. With her mind made up she tried to sleep again but after a few minutes was back to starring at the canvas.

You're being silly, she told herself. He's asleep, there's no way you're going over there. You're not, just go to sleep. There's no way he's awake and doing the same thing you are. No, you are not going. She was still telling herself that as she silently opened her tent and crept across the empty campsite to his tent.

Taking a deep breath outside his tent she realised she was actually nervous and toyed with the idea of going back. She argued with herself for a few moments before eventually giving in and quietly opening his tent.

He was lying awake and starring up at the canvas. She had to cover her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. Before she could even begin to explain why she was invading his tent in the middle of the night he moved over to make room for her, throwing the top of the bedroll back to allow her to slip in next to him. Without a word she climbed in and felt his strong arms enfold her. They we both asleep within moments. Elissa conveniently forgot her tent when they moved on the next morning.


	19. Chapter 19

"What the fuck was that?" Alistair towered over her, red faced in his anger, Elissa was taken aback and for a moment just stared at him slack jawed.

"You didn't see them, they-"

"Nate and Anders had me covered. You promised you wouldn't get involved, for the Makers sake Elissa, you haven't even trained in three days! If not for them," He pointed at Nathaniel and Anders over her shoulder, "you'd be dead. What? The mighty Hero of Ferelden doesn't need time to heal? You're as human as the rest of us. You'd have thought the last few days would have taught you that." He shouted at her,

"But-" she tried to defend herself.

"For someone who talks a great deal about trust you sure don't show us a whole lot!"

"I do trust you!" She was starting to get annoyed now,

"Not enough to take out a few bandits it seems." He turned on his heel and marched off. Elissa glared after him, not entirely sure why he was so annoyed.

OK so maybe she hadn't trained since she'd been injured and maybe she had promised she wouldn't get involved if they were attacked but what was she supposed to do? Just stand by and watch when three bandits crept up behind him? She was practically healed now anyway, her face was almost back to normal and while some of her muscles still ached Anders had worked his magic, literally and figuratively, and she was feeling better every day.

While Anders and Nathaniel had followed after Alistair, Oghren came to a stop beside her, she rolled her eyes at him, sure he would take her side,

"He's got a point you know princess."

"Oh don't you start." she groaned at him.

"That was reckless, even for you. While being suicidal is normally part of your charm diving on three bandits when you can barely lift your swords is probably not the best idea."

"I can lift my swords just fine." She unsheathed them to demonstrate, twirling them around in her fists.

"Oh yeah?" A split second later and Oghren's giant axe was in his hands, he swung it around bringing it to a stop an inch from Elissa's head, she'd tried to bring her swords up to block him but she was too slow. "Oh yeah, you're fine." Oghren said, sarcasm dripping from every word.

"OK so maybe I'm not **completely** back to normal..." Oghren chuckled at her, fastening his axe back on his back.

"Come on sweetheart, I'll buy you a drink."

They'd found an inn the day before and Alistair had talked her into stopping for a few nights. She'd argued with him at the time, they still weren't any closer to the tower and every day they spent getting there was one more day that the mages were at risk. He'd made a valid point by saying she wasn't on top form yet anyway and was certainly in no fit state to fight Templars. She had to admit he had her there, if anything today had proved his point for him, she thought ruefully. She wasn't even a match for bandits at the moment. Now she'd calmed down a little she could see that maybe, **maybe** , Alistair might have had a right to be angry with her. She wasn't even wearing her full heavy armour, just wearing a set of light leather to make it easier on her muscles while they'd explored the surrounding area. She cringed a little at herself, what had she been thinking?

Back at the inn she threw herself onto a stool at the bar, allowing Oghren to order drinks for them. The others were nowhere to be seen, she could only assume they were up in their rooms. Oghren plonked down next to her, handing her a tankard.

"So," he started, "why don't you tell me what's really bothering you?" She shook her head behind her tankard.

"Nothing." She said, taking a mouthful.

"I thought you said we were family?" He frowned at her.

"We are!"

"Well it goes both ways darlin'." He was quiet for a moment, letting her digest what he'd said. Elissa groaned and put her head down on the bar. Why did it seem like all the men in her life were determined to make her life difficult today?

"The kid?" He asked. She nodded into the bar before sitting up and looking at him. "What's the problem? He loves you, you don't need to be a paragon to know that. The state he was in when...well, the state he was in made that pretty obvious. Do you love him?" She nodded again, "Then what's the problem? Go scratch the crap out of his back, you'll feel better."

Elissa huffed out a laugh, "You have such a way with words Oghren. It's more complicated than that."

Oghren tipped his tankard in her direction, "You make it complicated sweetheart."

Elissa thought for a moment. She and Alistair hadn't talked about what he'd said to her that night and although they'd spent every night together since nothing had happened and he hadn't kissed her again. She wasn't entirely sure what she was going to say until she opened her mouth.

"I'm afraid." She admitted, quietly staring at her hands.

"Of course you are." Oghren stated in a matter-of-fact voice, the way he'd spoken as though she'd said the most obvious thing in the world made her look up. "You'd be a fool not to be, you are many things my girl but a fool isn't one of them."

"But what if he leaves again?" She finally said the thing she feared most.

Oghren just shrugged his shoulders, "And what if the Templars kill us all? You can't control everything, as much as you'd like to." He let out a sigh and covered her hand with his larger one, "Let me put it this way princess, if that crazy mage had killed you what would you have regretted?" The damn dwarf had her there. "Stop overthinking it." He gave her hand a squeeze before letting go to take another drink and inclined his head towards the staircase. She leant forward and kissed him on his grizzled cheek before standing up. Oghren watched her head for the stairs before helping himself to her tankard with a grin.

Elissa stopped outside Alistair room with her arm raised ready to knock, "Stop overthinking it," she mumbled to herself before knocking on the door. Alistair opened it in his under armour, whetstone in hand,

"Elissa what-" She cut him off, grabbing the front of his tunic with one hand and the back of his neck with the other she pressed her lips to his. It took him all of a second to get over the shock before dropping the whetstone and grabbing her around her back, almost lifting her off her feet.

She smiled in relief against his mouth. Sliding both arms up around his neck she stood on her tiptoes the press the entire length of her body against his. She felt him reach behind her to close the door before pushing her up against the hard wood. Running his arms around from her back to her waist his lifted her easily, she wrapped her legs around his hips and he pinned her between his body and the door. One of his hands found her face, his fingers sinking into her hair, he turned his head to the other side, searching for a better angle on her mouth. He sucked on her lower lip and she opened her mouth eagerly, moaning when his tongue swept over hers, her moan making him grind her into the door harder in response. Pulling his mouth from hers he kissed his way along her jaw as one of his hands went to work on the buckles of her armour. Letting her head fall back against the door she moaned again when he frantically kissed and sucked his way down her neck, feeling her racing pulse against his lips. Finally finishing with the buckles he stepped back slightly to pull her armour off, she grabbed his tunic and pulled it over his head, desperate to feel his skin.

Her form fitting under armour still in place he slipped his hands underneath to squeeze her waist, his large hands almost completely circling it. Edging his fingers up she held her breath in anticipation but he barely grazed the underside of her breasts with the tips of his fingers causing her to break out in goose bumps from head to toe before sliding them back down. He grinned against her neck at her frustration, if he thought he was the only one that could tease he was sadly mistaken though. Bending to his neck Elissa blew lightly along the sensitive skin, following up with the barest of brushes with her lips before grinding her hips into him. It was his turn to moan as he gave her what she wanted and covered a breast with his hand, her hard nipple pebbling his palm, his callouses deliciously rough against the soft skin. He took her mouth again, roughly pushing his lips to hers, teasing her with his tongue.

Dragging himself off her mouth he pressed his forehead against hers, they were both panting as their eyes met, his almost as dark as hers in his lust. Without breaking eye contact his took her weight in his hands and slowly made his way to the bed. Laying her down carefully he kissed her again, softer this time, slowly running his tongue along her already swollen lower lip. She ran her hands up his bare back, loving the feel of his muscles as they shifted under her palms. Repeating the action with he nails this time he arched into her hands, pressing his erection into her belly and sending a current of warmth straight to her core. Running a light hand over his stomach she ran one finger in a line around him before starting to unfasten his breaches and reach inside, his hips bucked a little as soon as she felt his soft skin causing him grab her hand in his, twisting his fingers through hers he half laughed,

"You better not." Into her neck. He was battling his self control as it was. Pinning the hand he now held over her head he grabbed the bottom of her under armour in his other hand and tugged it over her head, leaving her naked from the waist up. He drank the sight of her in before covering her body with his own. After a lingering kiss on her lips he kissed his way down her neck and along her collar bone before slowly dragging his tongue down between her breasts and kissing the underside of each one. He met her eyes before finally kissing the tip of a nipple, flicking it with his tongue and taking it in his mouth. She rubbed her thighs together to try and ease the pressure building between her legs. She wanted him desperately.

Slipping down lower he kissed his way down her rib cage and across her hip bones to her belly, the muscles there jumping under his mouth and hands. Lowering himself further he took the waist band of her trousers in his fingers and slowly, tortuously, running them down her legs leaving just her underwear. Starting at her ankles her kissed hiss way back up, running his tongue along the inside of her thigh then skipped straight over where she wanted him most to kiss along the lace edge at the top of her underwear. She cried out in her need, her hips coming off the bed, chuckling to himself he caught her eye, maintaining eye contact he slid her soaked underwear down her legs to join the rest of their clothes on the floor.

She cried out again when he brushed the pad of his thumb over the bundle of nerves at the top of her opening following it with his lips, teasingly gentle at first before his tongue darted out in soft quick licks. Grabbing handfuls of the sheets in her fists she couldn't stop the loud moans that escaped her when he slipped a finger between her soft folds, running his finger in teasing circles around her entrance, she was whimpering when he finally, with agonising slowness, slid his finger inside her. The thrusting of his hand combined with the long licks with the flat of his tongue had her panting within seconds but when he took her clit into his mouth and sucked it pushed her over the edge, she screamed his name as she came. He watched her come down from her orgasm, she was incredible.

"Maker Alistair, where in the Chantry did you learn to do that.?

He grinned up at her, "You'd be surprised some of the stories we got told." He pressed another kiss to the inside of her thigh before pushing his breeches down and sliding his body up over her. Nudging her legs apart he settled himself between her thighs, she grabbed the back of his neck, bringing his face down to kiss him as he teased her entrance with his tip. She couldn't take it any more, breaking their kiss she whispered in a hoarse voice,

"Please Alistair," The last of his self control snapped at hearing her beg for him, with one thrust he buried himself inside her with a groan. She wrapped her legs around is waist as he withdrew to push into her again, harder this time, she brought her hips up to meet each of his thrusts. He ran a hand up the outside of her leg, over her hips and to her breast, sliding his thumb over her nipple making her arch her back to press into his hand as she raked his back with her finger nails, nibbling and kissing his shoulders. Then he moved his hand from her breast, sliding it between them, over her stomach and lower to brush against her clit, every muscles in her body tightened and she squeezed her legs around his waist, he moaned her name as he pushed her to her peak again. She stifled her cries against his neck as she came around him fuelling his own orgasm and with one more hard thrust he spilled himself inside her.

He collapsed onto her chest to catch his breath, revelling in the feel of her racing heart beat. Elissa smiled at the feeling of him still twitching inside her from the strength of his orgasm. Running her fingers through his hair she said simply,

"I love you Alistair." Taking her hand to press a kiss to her palm he looked up at her,

"And I love you. Always."

 _A.N Hi :) Hope you're enjoying the story so far. I've never written smut before and was really nervous about posting this so if you could let me know what you thought I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading!_


	20. Chapter 20

Elissa awoke the next morning with every muscles in her body aching in the best possible way. Looking over she saw Alistair still asleep on his side facing her, humming contentedly to herself she stretched with a yawn. Pushing her arms above her head she heard a voice mumble

"Don't." Looking over she saw Alistair peeking at her through one eye. "Don't you do it."

Raising a brow at him she popped one shoulder, not bothering to hide her smile as he shuddered, she waited for him to look at her again before popping the other one. She laughed as he growled at her, quickly rolling over so she was half underneath him and pinning her already raised arms above her head. He grinned down at her before kissing the underside of her chin and dragging his lips down her throat to stop just before the hollow.

"So, what do you want to do today?" he asked, his tongue flicking out to wet her skin.

"Hmm," she pretended to think about it, running her foot seductively up the back of his leg before hooking it over his hip, pressing him into her, "Well, I suppose we could do some training, maybe try and find some more bandits, I'm sure there's bound to be some giant spiders around here somewhere..."

He laughed into her neck, "You're evil you know."

"So you keep saying." She said with a giggle as she pushed her hips against his.

They finally emerged from Alistair's room a few hours later and went downstairs to find the bar quiet and none of the others around,

"Oh well, we tried. Come on, back to bed," Elissa said, grabbing his hand and tugging him back in the direction of the stairs,

"Oh no you don't," he laughed, pulling her back around again, "If you want to go hunting Templars you need to train." She pouted up at him but let him push her out the door and into the yard. Around the back of the building they found some flat land by some abandoned stables. Stretching out her shoulders and neck Elissa moved around to face him, bending her knees she entered a fighting stance but didn't draw her weapons. Alistair removed the training sword and shield from his back and waited, when it became clear she wasn't reaching for her swords he asked,

"Ready?"

"Ready. Take your best shot."

He shrugged but charged her anyway, aiming for her shoulder but she ducked under his arm at the last second, spinning out of reach before turning to face him again,

"I think you missed." She grinned, eyes dancing. He tutted at her before charging again, keeping his sword lower this time and bringing his shield round, she feigned right but swapped sides, throwing herself under his shield before rolling and popping back onto the balls of her feet to dance away.

"Huh, missed again?" She was laughing at him now, he couldn't help smiling back.

"Why, you little-" he attacked mid-sentence, hoping to catch her off guard, swinging the blade in front of him rather than bringing it around, she hopped back out of the way, sucking her stomach in so the blade swept past her harmlessly,

"So close!" She taunted. He swept it in front of himself again but she dropped low onto one hip, bringing her leg around behind his knees, sending him toppling to the ground. She looked over him and winked before sauntering off, this time taking her swords out. Grumbling he got to his feet, smiling wickedly at him she tossed one sword in the air, catching the handle mid-air just before leaping at him. The sudden movement caught him off guard he'd been expecting her to show off a little more. He only just got his shield up in time to block her. Bouncing off his shield with her right sword she allowed the momentum to push her around to swipe her left sword at his back, he turned the opposite way, catching it with his own blade, pushing her left arm up. She brought her right sword across her own body so he had to disengage to avoid it. Throwing himself backwards out of her reach he saw her next attack coming, she brought swords around together aiming for both his sides at the same time. It was a risky move on her part, and it usually paid off, not today though, turning side on Alistair pushed his shield between the swords and shoved. The shield was wider than him and the swords bounced off the sides, leaving her wide open. He pushed the shield further, catching her in the chest. Turning away from it and to face him again, she sped up her attacks, he only had time to block and couldn't get any attacks in of his own but he knew she couldn't keep it up forever, she'd have to turn again. He waited for his chance and the second she turned he dropped his sword and shield, instead grabbing both her arms from behind her, pulling them down he crossed them over, the tips of her blades ending just below her chin.

"Yield?" He asked, breathing hard, she nodded and let the swords fall from her hands. He let go of her arms to grab hold of her waist, she turned in his hands and kissed him hungrily on the mouth.

"Uggh, I didn't need to see that!" Came the voice behind them, causing them to spring apart. Anders was still covering his eyes with Oghren and Nathaniel next to him. Alistair blushed all the way to his ears.

Oghren laughed, "No need to stop on our account!" he said with a wink in Elissa's direction.

"Yes there is. There is **every** need." Nathaniel had his eyes averted and didn't see her grinning at him. Elissa's relationship with Oghren and Anders consisted of lots of playful flirting on both sides, whereas with Nathaniel it was closer to what siblings share, he made her think of Fergus a lot, right now was a perfect example.

"How're you feeling princess?" Oghren asked.

"I'm good. Let's go to work shall we?"

It was either very late at night or very early in the morning when Alistair woke up to find Elissa missing from their bed, throwing some clothes on he went downstairs looking for her. She was in the empty bar, sat on the floor in front of a small fire she'd got going in the hearth. He watched her for a few moments, she had her maps spread out on the floor. She'd spent that long staring at them the last few weeks Alistair was pretty sure she knew them by heart by now. Going over he sat on the floor behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and looking at the maps over her shoulder.

"Can't sleep?"

She shook her head but leaned back against him.

"I keep thinking about what Aeron said." Alistair's jaw clenched at the mages name but he let her continue "about the circle. I hadn't really thought about the necessity of it before, it was always just there. There's a whole group of people who are forced into what amounts to a prison just because they're born with this power. How can that be right?"

"The circle is there to protect us all, the mages included, look what happened to Uldred." Alistair reminded her.

"Yes but also look and Wynne, Anders-"

"Morrigan?"

"Yes, OK Morrigan is probably not the best example but would she have been that way if she hadn't been forced into hiding her entire life? I know that the mages need to learn to control their powers, I understand about demons and the temptation to turn to them but there's got to be a better way. Maybe the circle doesn't work as well as we thought."

"I agree the circle isn't perfect but I don't see another solution."

"Me neither. Anders has talked about what it was like, about being constantly watched by the Templars, living with the idea of demons hovering over your head all the time. They were ready to execute him, would have done if I'd not invoked the rite of conscription. Maybe there's a middle ground somewhere? I don't know. I just feel sorry for them I guess." She finished with a shrug.

Alistair gave her a small squeeze, only she could feel sorry for someone who'd tried to kill her. "How long until we reach the tower?"

"If we leave tomorrow then a few days, three maybe. If nothing else happens along the way that is."


	21. Chapter 21

"It looks quiet," Elissa whispered, looking through the trees,

"A little-"

"I swear Oghren, if you say a little too quiet I will hex you." Anders cut in, "So what's the plan boss?"

They were in a small thicket, watching the Tower. Unfortunately it was in a clearing, without knowing about any secret tunnels they'd be left in the open if they tried to make a run for the front doors. Elissa thought for a moment.

"I don't like it. There should be Templars around but we've not seen anyone, if I didn't know better I'd say this circle was abandoned."

"Won't they be trying to keep a low profile though? I doubt they're advertising what they're doing."

"Mmm, you could be right. Something just feels off though. Either way I think we're better off waiting until it goes dark, if there is someone watching we won't get across to the tower without being seen. There's only a few hours until sunset. I say we set up camp, get something to eat and come back then."

So decision made they backed off and set up camp. Oghren looked around at his friends, grouped around the fire. Everyone was quiet, thinking about the evening ahead of them and what they would find inside the tower. Even Elissa and Alistair were quiet and serious. It would do no good to dwell on it he knew, they were as ready as they were going to get, worrying about what was to come wasn't going to help them, with this in mind he turned to Elissa,

"Hey princess, remember how we got into the tower at Ferelden the first time?" Elissa's face immediately split into a grin,

"Oh I remember. I do miss Sten sometimes."

"You miss Sten?" Alistair asked, "Mr serious, really?"

"He wasn't always serious. What did he call Andrastes Urn? An ash tray?" Said Elissa with a small laugh.

"So how did you get into the circle the first time?" Asked Anders.

"Well," Oghren started, "We were travelling with this Qunari, Sten. Giant, must have been seven or eight feet tall. He hated everything about Ferelden except cookies, when we got to the circle there was this Templar, wouldn't take us across the lake see, so Sten bribed him with cookies, he'd stolen them from this kid..."

Soon the camp was full of the sounds of laughter as they swapped stories.

Back outside the tower a few hours later it looked just as deserted as it had earlier in the day. There was no light coming from the windows, had it not been a full moon they'd barely be able to see anything at all. Darting across the clearing Elissa expected to hear the shouting of guards at any moment but no Templars came to stop them.

Flattening herself against the tower wall to avoid being seen from the windows she edged around the side of the tower, the others right behind her. Something caught her eye, a light that had been hidden from their spot earlier by a low wall. Gesturing to the others silently she crept towards it, pulling her weapons from their sheaths as she went. It was an oil lamp, almost burned out by the looks of it, it was hanging from a shovel stuck into the ground, looking around and still not seeing anyone she told them to hold where they were, she had an awful feeling about what she was going to find. Making her way forwards alone she looked down. It was a mass grave, dozens of bodies lay on top of each other in various stages of decomposition. All were wearing the robes of circle mages, some had the brand of tranquillity on their heads, some were decomposed too much to tell. Elissa felt bile burn in her throat and had to lean on the low wall to keep herself on her feet while she heaved, eternally grateful she'd spared the others from seeing what she had, they didn't need the nightmares. She couldn't do anything for these poor souls now except promise they would be avenged. On slightly shaking legs she made he way back to where the others waited for her. Even in the faint light Alistair could see how much paler she looked,

"What was it?" Oghren asked,

"Nothing." Elissa replied, "Come on."

As they slowly and quietly mounted the stairs Alistair asked out of the corner of his mouth,

"You OK?"

"No. These Templars have a lot to answer for."

They reached the doors unchallenged to find they were unlocked, not a good sign. Pulling her swords out again she pushed one door open enough to slip inside and immediately realised why they'd got this far without seeing anyone. The two guards that should have been guarding the doors were broken on the floor, in pools of blood.

"Anyone else getting a sense of deja vu?" Asked Alistair, voice completely devoid of humour. They checked the Templars for signs of life but the bodies were cold, they'd been dead for a few hours.

"What do you think happened?" Anders asked, "Do you think maybe the mages finally had enough and fought back?"

Elissa shook her head, "I've no idea. Let's go up, floor by floor, keep an eye out for any survivors. Someone did this and if it's another Aeron we might be in trouble."

The tower was strangely eerie, corridors that should have echoed with voices took on a whole different dimension when silenced. Even when they had to re-take the Ferelden tower it wasn't quiet like this. It made Elissa's hair stand on end, the tension was unbelievable. Searching the mage apprentice quarters proved fruitless, nothing moved, no Templars, no mages, nothing but more silence.

"Maybe they left? The Templars could have took the mages and gone somewhere else?" Anders suggested at a whisper,

"Oh and the guards at the door pummelled themselves to death did they?" Oghren snipped back at him,

"Quiet!" Elissa hissed before a full blown argument could break out, "Does anyone else hear that?" She could hear soft murmuring coming from somewhere. Weapons drawn she moved into the next bedroom, looking around carefully, not sure what she expected to find.

"There, there it is again." Whatever was making the noise must have heard her because it suddenly went quiet again. Approaching a large cupboard she saw a pair of legs sticking out, pointing at the legs she nudged Alistair, the gestured for him to go around the other side. Appearing around the back of the cupboard at the same time they found a Templar lying on the ground in a pool of blood. He was propped against the back of the cupboard with a stomach wound. Elissa knelt on the floor next to him,

"What happened here?" She asked him in a hushed voice.

"The mages...the mages they...er."

"We know you were experimenting on the mages," Anders looked down at the Templar with a look of disgust, "Don't try to cover it up now. Just tell us what happened."

The Templar seemed to consider what Anders had said and with a wet sounding cough nodded, "I'm done anyway." He said, "Someone needs to stop what's happened. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Some us were just looking for a compromise, somewhere between tranquil and being a full mage-"

"Tranquillity is not a compromise! Do you think-"

"Anders," Elissa warned over her shoulder. Anders went quiet, allowing the Templar to continue.

"Some of the Templars wanted a compromise but most just wanted to be rid of the mages. But the Knight-Commander here, Ser Arn Francois...he's completely insane. He and his generals were trying to make powerful tranquils using lyrium branding. They managed once a few weeks ago but the mage escaped, they succeeded once more last night but the mage they picked...I think he was a blood mage or he'd made a deal with a demon. Ser Arn and his generals escaped with most of the mages but he left the rest of us behind."

Elissa looked at the Templar in horror.

"Wait. Just wait, are you saying they've created a lyrium branded abomination?!" The Templar nodded at her before coughing again.

Hardly able to believe her ears she stood up, staring at the wall and trying to block the image of Aeron from invading her thoughts. She could still hear his laugh echoing around her head. Alistair took one look at her face and knew exactly where her mind had gone, giving her a moment to compose herself he took over questioning the Templar.

"Where is this abomination now?"

"I don't know but I would try the harrowing chamber at the top of the tower, that's where the experiments were taking place."

"Any ideas where this Ser Arn went?"

The Templars covered his hand with his mouth to cough again but shook his head. Alistair caught Anders eye and gave a tiny nod at the Templar, Anders huffed, clearly not happy with what he was being asked to do but said,

"Fine." And knelt to try and heal the Templar, he was waved away however as the Templar coughed again before saying,

"Don't bother. I'm done. Just," more coughing, "be careful."

Subtly taking Elissa's elbow and hoping no one noticed Alistair led them from the room. Letting the others go in front of the under the guise of rummaging through a desk he asked,

"Are you OK?"

Jaw clenched so tight he was surprised her teeth weren't breaking under the strain she nodded. Giving up the pretence of looking through the desk he cupped her cheek in his hand,

"You're not and it's OK that you're not. I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She turned to him, eyes so big they seemed to take up her entire face.

"It's not me I'm worried about." She brushed her hand over his and went to catch up with the others.

They checked every other room on the way up to the harrowing chamber but found no one else left alive, just lots of dead Templars. Elissa's apprehension grew the further up the tower they climbed. Finally they reached the last door. Stopping outside she turned around to talk in a hushed voice,

"This is it. Keep your wits about you. Nate, stick to ranged combat. If you've any poisons you've got stored in your pack, now is a good time to use them, pour it into your quiver if need be. Anders, focus on healing and defence rather than offence. Oghren, Alistair and myself will attack from three different sides. Try to keep him distracted as much as possible, confuse him, taunt and withdraw, keep him on the back foot. Everyone ready?" She waited for them all to nod before throwing the doors open and stalking into the room.

A man was stood in mages robes, looking out the window when they entered. He turned to greet them, arms crossed behind his back.

"What do we have here?" He asked, "Come to stop me perhaps? Sent by Ser Arn to avenge his Templars and claim back his tower."

"We came to stop the experiments, to try and save the mages." Elissa said, hands inches from her weapons, fingers tingling.

"Alas, it seems you are too late."

"Apparently so."

He turned back to the window with a sigh, "Ser Arn has fled this place, but I will find him."

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." Elissa said, quiet but determined.

Looking over his shoulder the mage smirked at her, "Let me? You cant **let me** do that? I'd like to see you try to stop me. Ser Arn will pay for all he's done here."

Elissa looked at him sadly, "Yes, Ser Arn will pay for what he's done. But I cannot allow an abomination to walk free. I'm sorry for what's happened to the mage inside you but the demon cannot be allowed to leave here."

She withdrew her swords as the mage turned to face her.

"Pity. Such a shame."

Faster than she would have believed he cast a paralysing spell, catching all of them. All they could do was watch as he whipped a knife from the inside of his robes and dragged it along his wrist, using the power in his blood he began to change into his true form. Elissa stood rooted to the floor, her neck craning as he grew, and grew, and grew some more. Raising it's arms above it's head in a roar that seemed to shake the tower itself stood the biggest demon Elissa had ever seen, at least a dozen feet tall, rippling in muscle, with a mouth of very sharp looking teeth and hands with a deadly looking claw at the tip of each finger. Well, shit. The spell broke and she ran.

Her movement spurred the others into action as she ducked her head and ran between the monsters feet to come up behind it, Alistair went left while Oghren went right. Her swords burst into flames thanks to Anders magic and she swung both her blades, she hacked and slashed at the abominations legs, it roared but Elissa could have sworn it sounded more like a laugh as it reached and arm down to sweep at Alistair. Elissa let out a roar of her own, trying to draw it in her direction. She saw it turn to her and backed up, trying to get it to follow her to give Alistair and Oghren time to get a few hits in. She could see Nathaniel's arrows, some hitting it and some bouncing off it's thick hide but the abomination wasn't paying them any attention, hopefully the poison would work it's magic though. Backing up until she reached the wall she waited for it to advance before rolling between it's legs, coming up behind it once again. Oghren took his turn, baiting the monster toward him. She charged and attacked with all the strength she could muster and she finally drew blood, getting the abominations attention again. It stomped it's feet, shaking the ground and sending them falling to the floor, Elissa looked up just in time to see it's foot coming toward her. Rolling to her left it's foot slammed down where her head had been just seconds before. Alistair gained his feet first and let out a war cry, trying to draw it's attention away from Elissa, it turned his head to roar back at him but didn't give chase, instead it tried to stomp on Elissa again, rolling right this time she avoided it's foot but it wasn't giving her enough time to get up, she could only do this for so long. An idea occurred to her and when it tried to bring it's foot down on her again she didn't try to avoid it, instead she held both swords up over her head and felt the abomination impale its foot on her long swords. When it lifted its foot back up again she pulled her swords with her and launched herself to her feet. She looked at it in triumph only to be amazed by the lack of damage she'd done. The damn thing wasn't even limping! She swallowed hard, what was it going to take to kill this thing?

Running back towards the abomination she tried everything, she swiped at it, slashed it, stabbed at it, nothing was slowing it down. She could see Alistair to her left, face creased in concentration as he used his sword and shield, attacking with everything he had. He taunted it, bringing it closer to him, using his shield to try and block it's attacks. With a swing of an arm it sent him spinning to the floor. Elissa ran between it and Alistair, blocking him from the abomination. Giving Anders time to send a healing spell his way and for Alistair to get to his feet. Within seconds he was back at her side, together they ducked under an arm, splitting off again to keep the attack on all sides. She was so busy watching it's arms that she missed its foot, it kicked behind it, sending her spinning to the floor.

Oghren was bellowing in rage and dancing around, trying to avoid it's massive claws when she rejoined the fray, he was using every chance to hack at it's fingers whenever he could reach, he was hitting it but again it was shrugging off the damage as though they were nothing more than an irritation. Coming up next to Oghren, she joined him, maybe if they could incapacitate one of the beasts hand it would at least have a weaker side they could exploit. Elissa attacked the back of it's hand while Oghren focused on the fingers, all while they attempted to avoid it's grasp. Oghren eventually got a shot in and with a mighty swing of his axe he cut the tip of the abominations finger clean off, sending it's claw spinning across the room. Roaring in anger and pain in leant over, bringing its full arm across the swipe at Elissa and Oghren, sending them flying across the room to crash into a wall. Shaking her head to clear it she felt the warmth of Anders healing them and scanned the room for Alistair who was now engaging the monster alone, he was trying to bait it around a column to neutralise its longer limbs. Nathaniel was pulling the string on his bow so fast that his fingers were a blur and Anders were launching attacks at the monster at a slower pace, reserving his energy for healing his team. This wasn't working, they needed to try something else. Spotting what looked like a weakness on the abomination she turned to Oghren,

"Oghren, I've got an idea."

"About time. It had better be good princess!"

"It's crazy. If it doesn't work, get them out!"

"Elissa-"

"Oghren I don't have time to argue with you! Say it!"

"I'll get them out." He grumbled. Elissa quickly patted his arm before leaping to her feet once more. She allowed herself two deep breaths before screaming,

"Anders, haste! Alistair lift!"

She heard Alistair shout,

"You've got to be kidding!" But it was too late, she was already sprinting towards him. The world seemed to slow down around her, she felt her feet start to lighten and her pace increasing thanks to Anders' spell, she heard Oghren bellow behind her, drawing the abominations attention, she saw Alistair's look of horror as he lowered his shield for her and she had time to think that was was probably the craziest thing she'd ever done before she leapt.

Thanks to Anders spell and Alistair's strength she flew straight at the abomination, swords held out in front of her, she screamed as they both went straight to their mark, right where it's heart should be. To her horror it didn't drop. Roaring in pain and anger is swiped at the small human now dangling helplessly from it's chest, knocking one of her swords out. Now hanging from one hand she held on as it swiped at her again, stamping it's feet into the ground and she felt her hand begin to slide off the handle of her sword. Nathaniel fired, an arrow embedded next to her hand, she grabbed it, holding on for all she was worth. Another arrow hit, further up, then another, Nathaniel was making her a ladder! She could hear Oghren and Alistair on the ground, attacking and trying to draw the monsters attention away from her. She climbed as quickly as she could, swinging herself onto the abominations shoulder.

"Elissa! Make it count!" Oghren shouted, throwing her fallen sword to her. By some miracle she caught it, bringing the blade down into it's skull with every ounce of power and strength the had. She felt it sway beneath her and heard Alistair scream her name before it collapsed, her going with it and the world went black.


End file.
